How To Treat Psychological Stress

Treatments For Traumatic Stress

Psychologists can provide evidence-based interventions to help you cope with traumatic stress or acute stress disorder.

One is Psychological First Aid , originally designed to help children, adolescents, adults, and families in the aftermath of a disaster or terrorism. Its now used to help people who have experienced any type of trauma. PFA is based on the idea that distress is normal after a traumatic event. Rather than treat that stress like a disorder, the focus of this approach is to provide support and assistance and share information about stress reactions and coping strategies. Mental health providers and disaster response workers provide PFA in the days and weeks after a trauma, in diverse settings including hospitals, housing shelters, community settings, and even over telephone crisis hotlines. The goal of PFA is to reduce distress and improve coping and functioning, both short-term and long-term.

Another evidence-based treatment is , or CBT, which is successfully used to treat many psychological disorders, including traumatic stress. CBT is a psychological treatment that helps people learn to change unhelpful thinking and behavioral patterns. The World Health Organization recommends trauma-focused CBT to treat symptoms of acute traumatic stress in adults. Some research also suggests that people who receive trauma-focused CBT may be less likely to develop chronic PTSD.

If you or a loved one is struggling to recover from a traumatic event, a psychologist can help.

Stress Management In The Workplace

Whether it be extended hours, near impossible deadlines, demanding colleagues or unappreciative bosses, workplace stress is something many people are familiar with.

According to the World Health Organizations definition, occupational or work-related psychosocial stress is the response people may have when presented with work demands and pressures that are not matched to their knowledge and abilities and which challenge their ability to cope.

But the effects of workplace stress arent simply isolated to the workplace they spill over into our personal relationships, our home lives, and our overall productivity.

Duke University found that workplace stress was responsible for over 70% of workplace accidents, 50% of absenteeism, and over $300 billion in associated costs .

These figures require action.

What Is Chronic Stress

Chronic stress can be described as a perpetual state of overwhelm, says Nidhi Tewari, a licensed clinical social worker in Richmond, Virginia. While the root causes differ from person to person, trauma, caregiving responsibilities, grief and the pressures of work and home life can contribute to ongoing stress, she says. Conditions like depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder can exacerbate peoples struggles.

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Healthy Ways To Handle Lifes Stressors

When stress becomes unmanageable, try these evidence-based tools to tackle it in healthy ways.

Healthy ways to handle lifes stressors.

Stressful experiences are a normal part of life, and the is a survival mechanism that primes us to respond to threats. Some stress is positive: Imagine standing in front of a crowd to give a speech and hitting it out of the park. Stressful? Certainly. But also challenging and satisfying.

But when a stressor is negative and cant be fought off or avoided such as layoffs at work or a loved ones medical crisis or when the experience of stress becomes , our biological responses to stress can impair our physical and mental health.

Fortunately, there are many evidence-based tools to help combat the negative effects of stress in healthy ways. They recommend that you:

Ten Tips For Reducing Stress During Troubled Times

With the onset of the fall – which usually signifies new beginnings- many of us are facing the daunting task of still being home, working and coping with daily life. Given the stresses of seclusion, difficult onsite working situations, remote learning, Covid-19, distressing weather conditions, the protests, the upcoming election and the economy, our sense of self could easily get lost in the chaos. Here are some tips to help you keep your sanity.

Stay safe,

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Treatment Options For Stress Therapy

Psychotherapy This type of therapy takes place with a psychologist, psychiatrist, or another type of mental health professional. In psychotherapy, people are encouraged to discover the underlying causes of their stress so that they can learn strategies for improving their quality of life.

Behavior Therapy There are several types of behavioral therapy. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is one of the most beneficial ways to deal with stress. In CBT, people are taught to recognize and change negative thought patterns and apply different tools to help them improve their negative-self talk to be more positive. For relieving stress, this means people can learn to be less hard on themselves and to recognize that its ok to reduce some of their burdens without seeing themselves as a failure.

Alternative Therapies In addition to traditional methods of stress therapy, there are many activities that an individual can do to alleviate their stress. Activities like exercise, yoga, acupuncture, massage, meditation, and social support are all useful tools to try if a person is faced with intense feelings of stress or pressure.

Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder

Disinhibited social engagement disorder occurs in children who have experienced severe social neglect or deprivation before the age of 2. Similar to reactive attachment disorder, it can occur when children lack the basic emotional needs for comfort, stimulation and affection, or when repeated changes in caregivers prevent them from forming stable attachments.

Disinhibited social engagement disorder involves a child engaging in overly familiar or culturally inappropriate behavior with unfamiliar adults. For example, the child may be willing to go off with an unfamiliar adult with minimal or no hesitation. These behaviors cause problems in the childs ability to relate to adults and peers. Moving the child to a normal caregiving environment improves the symptoms. However, even after placement in a positive environment, some children continue to have symptoms through adolescence. Developmental delays, especially cognitive and language delays, may co-occur along with the disorder.

The prevalence of disinhibited social engagement disorder is unknown, but it is thought to be rare. Most severely neglected children do not develop the disorder. Treatment involves the child and family working with a therapist to strengthen their relationship.

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Stress Busters: 4 Integrative Treatments

Nearly half of women report a rise in stress levels over the past five years. And while women and men tend to cope with stress differently, we know that chronic stress contributes to a range of health problems in both sexes, including mental health disorders, heart disease and obesity.

Integrative treatments like meditation and acupuncture can help reduce stress and related problems. These techniques are gaining mainstream acceptance as research demonstrates their positive health effects.

Managing stress calls for addressing the mind as well as the body, since both the brain and body contribute to symptoms.

Learn How To Deal With Stress:

Like it or not, stress is a part of life. Practice good coping skills: Try One-Minute Stress Strategies, do Tai Chi, exercise, take a nature walk, play with your pet or try journal writing as a stress reducer. Also, remember to smile and see the humor in life. Research shows that laughter can boost your immune system, ease pain, relax your body and reduce stress.

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Ways To Cope With Emotional Stress

Carly Snyder, MD is a reproductive and perinatal psychiatrist who combines traditional psychiatry with integrative medicine-based treatments.

• Coping With Emotional Stress

Emotional stress can be particularly painful and be challenging to deal with. It can take more of a toll that many other forms of stress. Part of the reason is that thinking about a solution, or discussing solutions with a good friendcoping behaviors that are often useful and effective in solving problemscan easily deteriorate into rumination and co-rumination, which are not so useful and effective.

In fact, rumination can exacerbate your stress levels, so it helps to have healthy strategies for coping with emotional stress as well as redirecting yourself away from rumination and avoidance coping and more toward emotionally proactive approaches to stress management.

Tips For Managing Chronic Stress

Successful management of chronic stress can vary from person to person what works for you may not for someone else. Here are some stress-busting tips may help you cope with stress:

• Get active. Physical activity can positively affect your mood and reduce stress. Walking is a great way to start, but if you want something more invigorating, try a heart-pumping aerobic activity like jogging, dance, or swimming. Just make sure you check with your doctor first.
• Try tai-chi or other relaxation exercises. Activities like tai-chi, yoga, meditation, or breathing exercises may take you out of your comfort zone, but they can be a worthwhile experience for many people. For example, one study among older individuals published in The Journals of Gerontology found that tai chi helped reduce participants stressful feelings while increasing positive emotions.

• Prioritize your sleep. Getting enough sleep is important for many areas of your health and wellbeing, and its benefits on stress management are no different. When you sleep, your brain unpacks much of the days activities and stressors during the various phases of sleep, including rapid-eye-movement. These tips from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can help train your brain to sleep longer and better for optimal health benefits.

• Avoid self-isolation. Surround yourself with a support network of people who care about your wellbeing, and use that network when you need it.

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How Do Psychology Professionals Treat Stress

If you are interested in learning more about the psychology profession, you may also be interested in learning more about how a psychology professional treats stress. With the American Psychological Association reporting that one-third of Americans would classify their stress-levels as extreme and one-fifth would label them high, its an important question. The answer will vary, depending on the types of stresses being treated and also what kind of professional a person sees.

Mental Wellness: A Spiritual Journey

In this groundbreaking book, Dr. El-Rayes presents a program of systematic approach to help you heal from depression, anxiety, and guides you to a path to mental wellness to create a much happier and more fulfilling life. Mental wellness goes beyond being free of a mental disorder. It is an active process of making choices to reach your potential.

The program uses evidence-supported practices and complements the medical services. It integrates the authors personal experience with the work of several renowned psychologists and psychiatrists, including Abraham Maslow, Aaron Beck, Victor Frankly, Thomas Hora, and others, as well as some of the ancient and contemporary philosophers. Dr. El-Rayes developed this program to help him heal from depression and anxiety, and reach his potential. So far, the program has helped thousands of people.

This book will help you heal and guide you to become the best you. It will facilitate your self-transformation, and your journey to mental wellness. You will be able to learn more about yourself and discover the wonderful person you are, find your own way to spiritual growth, identify your life purpose, enjoy a meaningful and fulfilling life, and make a difference in the world. The also focuses on stress management and relaxation strategies.

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Daily Inconveniences And Busyness

Minor setbacks such as misplacing something, forgetting things, or running late can cause psychological stress, particularly if they happen frequently. Day-to-day stressors cause anxiety affecting both physical and mental health.

When you are too busy and having to work more than one job can be draining. Maybe due to necessity or because you cant say no to others.

When you overwork, you tend to neglect your basic needs, such as exercising and eating healthy. In the long run, you may be diagnosed with psychological stress.

Variations In Stress Responses

Certain characteristics of a situation are associated with greater stress responses. These include the intensity or severity of the stressor and controllability of the stressor, as well as features that determine the nature of the cognitive responses or appraisals. Life event dimensions of loss, humiliation, and danger are related to the development of major depression and generalized anxiety . Factors associated with the development of symptoms of PTSD and mental health disorders include injury, damage to property, loss of resources, bereavement, and perceived life threat . Recovery from a stressor can also be affected by secondary traumatization . Other studies have found that multiple facets of stress that may work synergistically are more potent than a single facet for example, in the area of work stress, time pressure in combination with threat , or high demand in combination with low control .

Finally, human beings are resilient and in general are able to cope with adverse situations. A recent illustration is provided by a study of a nationally representative sample of Israelis after 19 months of ongoing exposure to the Palestinian intifada. Despite considerable distress, most Israelis reported adapting to the situation without substantial mental health symptoms or impairment .

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Endocrine System And Stress

Physical and psychological stress is managed in part through the efforts of the endocrine system. When a stressor is perceived by the brain, two stress systems are activated. The first is the norepinephrine sympathetic adrenal medullary system , and the second is the HPA-axis. The NE-SAM system has immediate results, known as the flight or fight response. This includes increased heart rate, increased pupil dilation, and increased respiration. These effects are mediated by epinephrine and norepinephrine, both produced by the adrenal glands. Epinephrine and norepinephrine are also neurotransmitters produced by nonendocrine cells in the brain where they have a number of important effects.

The first response to stress by the NE-SAM system is metabolically costly, burning through reserve glucose stores. Thus, one of the main goals of the stress systems is to generate energy. The second stress system, the HPA-axis helps to generate energy. Once activated by a stressor, the HPA-axis works to replenish the glucose stores that were quickly depleted by the NE-SAM system in preparation for a response to a second stressor or to a prolonged response to the initial stressor. All three components of the HPA-axis are part of the endocrine system however, it is the glucocorticoid hormone released by the adrenal gland which has effects throughout the body. This hormone is cortisol in humans and corticosterone in nonhuman animals.

Andrew Steptoe, in, 1998

What Is Psychological Stress

Stress is something everybody experiences throughout life. It is how the body and brain react to any need or demand that it sees as a challenge or obstacle. However, it is not necessarily a negative, as some people see short-term stress as motivating, as with an exam or job interview.1

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Stressors During Adulthood And Their Psychological Sequelae

LIFE STRESS, ANXIETY, AND DEPRESSION

It is well known that first depressive episodes often develop following the occurrence of a major negative life event . Furthermore, there is evidence that stressful life events are causal for the onset of depression . A study of 13,006 patients in Denmark, with first psychiatric admissions diagnosed with depression, found more recent divorces, unemployment, and suicides by relatives compared with age- and gender-matched controls . The diagnosis of a major medical illness often has been considered a severe life stressor and often is accompanied by high rates of depression . For example, a meta-analysis found that 24% of cancer patients are diagnosed with major depression .

Stressful life events often precede anxiety disorders as well . Interestingly, long-term follow-up studies have shown that anxiety occurs more commonly before depression . In fact, in prospective studies, patients with anxiety are most likely to develop major depression after stressful life events occur .

DISORDERS RELATED TO TRAUMA

Seeing A Psychologist About Anxiety Disorders

Though many types of anxiety disorders exist, research suggests that most are driven by similar underlying processes. People with anxiety disorders tend to become easily overwhelmed by their emotions, and they tend to have particularly negative reactions to those unpleasant feelings and situations.

Often, people try to cope with those negative reactions by avoiding situations or experiences that make them anxious. Unfortunately, avoidance can backfire and actually feed the anxiety.

Psychologists are trained in diagnosing anxiety disorders and teaching patients healthier, more effective ways to cope. A form of psychotherapy known as cognitive-behavioral therapy is highly effective at treating anxiety disorders. Through CBT, psychologists help patients learn to identify and manage the factors that contribute to their anxiety.

Through the cognitive component of therapy, patients learn to understand how their thoughts contribute to their anxiety symptoms. By learning to change those thought patterns, they can reduce the likelihood and intensity of anxiety symptoms.

With the behavioral component, patients learn techniques to reduce undesired behaviors associated with anxiety disorders. Specifically, patients are encouraged to approach activities and situations that provoke anxiety to learn that their feared outcomes are unlikely.

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