Stress management
Is it stress or anxiety?
Life can be stressful—you may feel stressed about performance at school, traumatic events (such as a pandemic, a natural disaster, or an act of violence), or a life change. Everyone feels stress from time to time.
What is stress? Stress is the physical or mental response to an external cause, such as having a lot of homework or having an illness. A stressor may be a one-time or short-term occurrence, or it can happen repeatedly over a long time.
What is anxiety? Anxiety is your body’s reaction to stress and can occur even if there is no current threat.
If that anxiety doesn’t go away and begins to interfere with your life, it could affect your health. You could experience problems with sleeping, or with your immune, digestive, cardiovascular, and reproductive systems. You also may be at higher risk for developing a mental illness such as an anxiety disorder or depression.
So, how do you know when to seek help?
Stress vs. Anxiety
Psychotherapists emphasize people’s thoughts rather than their actions in cognitive therapy. A dysfunctional outlook or mindset leads to dysfunctional emotions or behaviors, according to cognitive therapists. Individuals can modify how they feel and act by changing how they think. The cognitive therapy movement includes major figures such as Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck.
HUMINISTIC THERAPY
Taking an individual-centred approach to learning and development, we emphasize the importance of rational decisions and developing a person’s full potential. During therapy, a therapist emphasizes concern and care for their clients. Free will, self-determination, and the quest for meaning are at the core of existential therapy. A holistic or integrated approach to treatment. The majority of therapists do not adhere to one specific approach. Rather, they adapt their treatment according to the individual needs of their clients by blending elements from several different approaches.
Anger Management
Anger generates negative emotions that can provoke us to injure others. When anger manifests negatively person can feel:
- Symptoms of panic
- Accelerated heart beat
- Blood pressure can rise activating higher levels of adrenaline.
- Alcohol or substance use
- Highly erratic or unusual behavior
- Paranoid thinking
- Not taking prescribed psychiatric medications
- Being emotionally distraught, extremely depressed, angry, anxious, irritable to the point of not being able to carry out daily activities
When we become angry and excited we can experience black outs and dangerously hurt love ones, friends, or even strangers who cross our path. It is for these reasons that participants be assisted with managing their emotions. They can successfully be trained to control their feelings at a critical time and prevent serious consequences, such as being charged with assault and battery while facing jail time.
A Mental Health Crisis May Include:
- Talking about suicide
- Talking about threatening behavior
- Self-injury that does not need immediate medical attention
- Alcohol or substance use
- Highly erratic or unusual behavior
- Paranoid thinking
- Not taking prescribed psychiatric medications
- Being emotionally distraught, extremely depressed, angry, anxious, irritable to the point of not being able to carry out daily activities
| Stress | Both Stress and Anxiety | Anxiety |
|---|---|---|
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It’s important to manage your stress.
Everyone experiences stress, and sometimes that stress can feel overwhelming. You may be at risk for an anxiety disorder if it feels like you can’t manage the stress and if the symptoms of your stress:
- Interfere with your everyday life.
- Cause you to avoid doing things.
- Seem to be always present.
Recognize When You Need More Help
If you are struggling to cope, or the symptoms of your stress or anxiety won’t go away, it may be time to talk to a professional. Psychotherapy (also called “talk therapy”) and medication are the two main treatments for anxiety, and many people benefit from a combination of the two.