How Much Stress Is Too Much
Because of the widespread damage stress can cause, its important to know your own limit. But just how much stress is too much differs from person to person. Some people seem to be able to roll with lifes punches, while others tend to crumble in the face of small obstacles or frustrations. Some people even thrive on the excitement of a high-stress lifestyle.
Factors that influence your stress tolerance level include:
Your support network. A strong network of supportive friends and family members is an enormous buffer against stress. When you have people you can count on, lifes pressures dont seem as overwhelming. On the flip side, the lonelier and more isolated you are, the greater your risk of succumbing to stress.
Your sense of control. If you have confidence in yourself and your ability to influence events and persevere through challenges, its easier to take stress in stride. On the other hand, if you believe that you have little control over your lifethat youre at the mercy of your environment and circumstancesstress is more likely to knock you off course.
Your attitude and outlook. The way you look at life and its inevitable challenges makes a huge difference in your ability to handle stress. If youre generally hopeful and optimistic, youll be less vulnerable. Stress-hardy people tend to embrace challenges, have a stronger sense of humor, believe in a higher purpose, and accept change as an inevitable part of life.
Save Comparisons For The Produce Section
My whole life Ive been someone who was obsessed with comparing myself to others.
Even as a kid I would go into a tearful meltdown at other kids getting to eat candy or watch shows that I wasnt allowed to watch.
I had the pervasive sense that other people were getting things and experiences that I was being deprived of by a cruel universe, over-protective parents or .
The truth is that comparing your own life to others or believing you have been uniquely victimized and deprived is a path to endless misery.
Right now someone is sitting in a perfect villa with a supermodel wife and enjoying an incredible bottle of champagne after having all their dreams come true.
Someone else is struggling in a dark mine in Sub-Saharan Africa to mine minerals for Apple cellphones in order to get enough money to buy rice tomorrow.
Chances are your life may not be either of these extremes.
But comparing it to others and setting conditions on life before it will be satisfactory to you inherently makes you a victim and disempowers you.
It places you in regret or sadness at the past for either being better than the present or being unsatisfactory and being blamed for the present, and it sets up either idealized notions of the future that make the present seem worse, or dark visions of the future that make you feel even more hopeless.
Other people may have better lives than you. They may have love, health, money and things you dont have. Tomorrow they could be dead, or you could.
Work On Your Money Mindset
Im not Ludwig von Mises and my libertarian days are far in the rearview mirror , but I have to admit that your money mindset is crucial.
Your beliefs around money, wealth and how you value your own time and energy are enormously powerful.
If you begin to improve your relationship with money and prosperity, it can act as a beneficial healing agent for your depression as a whole, since in many cases depression is linked to a loss of personal power and feelings of helplessness and paralysis.
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What Are The Treatments For Depression
Many helpful treatments for depression are available. Treatment for depression can help reduce symptoms and shorten how long the depression lasts. Treatment can include getting therapy and/or taking medications. Your doctor or a qualified mental health professional can help you determine what treatment is best for you.
- Therapy. Many people benefit from psychotherapyalso called therapy or counseling.7,8 Most therapy lasts for a short time and focuses on thoughts feelings and issues that are happening in your life now. In some cases understanding your past can help but finding ways to address what is happening in your life now can help you cope and prepare you for challenges in the future.With therapy, youll work with your therapist to learn skills to help you cope with life, change behaviors that are causing problems and find solutions. Do not feel shy or embarrassed about talking openly and honestly about your feelings and concerns. This is an important part of getting better.Some common goals of therapy include:
- Getting healthier
- Making sense of past painful events
- Identifying things that worsen your depression
- Having better relationships with family and friends
- Understanding why something bothers you and creating a plan to deal with it
How You Can Help
It might seem small, but just doing things together, being there and staying connected can be a big help.
Depression and anxiety are so common that its highly likely that at some point youll know someone who might be experiencing it. It might be someone in your whnau, a team-mate or someone from your community. People with depression and anxiety are more likely to get through with help and support than on their own.Being depressed and anxious can be a really lonely experience. Sometimes the most important thing is having supportive people around or checking in. Having a coffee, watching television, phoning or texting to say Hi can help a lot. When youre feeling down, knowing that people are thinking of you can really lift your spirits.Often when people are feeling bad they dont want to go out and do anything. Everything feels just too hard. So encouraging them to do something with you is a great support. It could be something small like watching funny video clips, listening to music, going for a walk or window-shopping. Think about something you both like to do. There are different things you can do, depending on who youre trying to help:
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Take The Depression Test
Depression strikes millions each year, often with debilitating consequences. This psychological disorder is so common that it is sometimes referred to as the “common cold” of mental health, with nearly 10% of the population suffering from a depressive disorder at any given time.
Depression has a high cure rate. Effective treatments exist to help bring people’s lives back under control. Yet tragically many people suffering from this illness go without diagnosis and treatment. This depression test is a tool that may help you recognize the symptoms of depression and decide to get help. Please note that only a licensed professional can diagnose depression.
Why Do I Feel Depressed
Sometimes there is a direct cause for feeling depressed. This could be a life event, a circumstance or simply feeling lonely and depressed. Most times, depressed feelings begin due to a stressor. Example stressors that might make someone feel depressed include:
- Stress at home, work or school
- Moving
- Death of a loved one
- Social disruption
- Being diagnosed with an illness
Sometimes knowing why you feel depressed can help begin the process of relieving the depression. If, for example, you feel depressed because of the loss of a friendship, it may be helpful to spend time with other friends and talk about thatevent’s impact.
Sometimes people feel depressed for no reason. This happens more often in people with severe or chronic depression. However, even if feeling depressed for no reason, you can still take action to try and stop the depression.
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Let Go Of Professional Pressure
If you have a high-powered job and major expectations in your career this may not always be an immediate option.
But in general, having a ton of pressure at work or outside expectations sitting on your shoulders is going to worsen feelings of depression and inadequacy.
In general, try to give yourself space to deal with emotions and focus on living a healthier life.
If work is pushing you to eat, sleep, communicate and feel in unhealthy ways then it can be a contributing factor to depression.
Make sure you are kind to yourself as much as possible and factor in how professional pressure could be contributing to the sensation of being overwhelmed.
Is There A Difference Between Stress And Depression
Last Updated on September 4, 2019 by Inspire Malibu
Identifying the difference between symptoms of depression and stress can be tricky. There are certain overlaps that might lead a person to think theyre just stressed out when, in fact, theyre suffering from depression and vice versa.
Knowing the difference between stress and depression will help clear the path toward proper treatment.
In broad strokes, stress is usually situational or environmental and often a small change can alleviate the problem.
Depression, on the flipside, can develop in response to unresolved past issues, and sometimes occurs while life is seemingly great and last for weeks, months or even years. It is an illness that can also be caused by medical conditions, genetics, and yes, stress.
Both depression and stress are incredibly common. There are hundreds of surveys about stressed-out Americans because dealing with stress is synonymous with being human.
Young people of all ages feel stressed about school. Adults experience stress due to work and family, their health, the health of their loved ones and the economy.
Its virtually impossible to avoid stress and important to know that not all stress is bad. Chronic untreated stress, however, is not healthy. It can lead to a host of physical and psychological issues and, left untreated, develop into full-blown depression.
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Treatment: Medication For Depression Symptoms
Since depression disorders are caused in part by chemical imbalances in the brain, the use of psychiatric treatments is sometimes the only way patients can get back on their feet, improve sleep, and decrease stress. Depression is treatable with the right care, and a therapist can support you to get the help you need and start feeling more like yourself and less like your depression symptoms.
Develop An Action Plan For Anxiety And Depression
Your action plan for anxiety and depression will cover a wide range of options. The plan can include exercise, stress management and how to improve your sleep. You may be referred to a psychologist who can help you address things like negative thinking and how to manage difficulties in your relationships.
Some people think its weak to admit theyre going through a tough time, but if you have anxiety or depression, you cant just snap out of it or pull yourself together. Theres more to it than that.
If you think you may have anxiety or depression, and want to take action, start by talking to someone you trust keeping it to yourself can make things worse. Discuss your situation with a friend, partner, family member a colleague or your GP.
Beyond Blue has put together information about how men can create an action plan.
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Things To Do When Depressed Include:
- Engage in an enjoyable activity like going to a baseball game or attending a social gathering, even if you don’t initially feel like it.
- Avoid spending long periods of time alone.
- Maintain a healthy, balanced diet.
- Take care of yourself. Pamper yourself.
- Break tasks up into small chunks spread out over time to make them more achievable.
- Spend time with friends or family. Talk to a trusted person about what you’re going through.
- Postpone important decisions until you’re feeling better. If you have to make an important decision, discuss it with others because feeling depressed can cloud your judgment.
- Get professional help when needed.
Remember, no matter what you do when you’re depressed, feeling better takes time. You may have to get weeks of depression treatment before starting to feel better, but trust the depression will lift over time.
Find Hope In New Treatment Options
If youre on antidepressant medication and symptoms are still bad and you are too depressed to work, you shouldnt give up on feeling better.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation is a depression treatment that has shown great results, particularly in patients with treatment-resistant depression.
- TMS works by reactivating parts of the brain that become dormant from depression.
- TMS is highly effective and doesnt come with the side effects associated with antidepressants.
- TMS is also covered by insurance and Medicare.
- A typical TMS treatment takes 18 to 19 minutes, and you can drive afterward, meaning you could do it during your lunch break at work.
If youd like to try TMS, Success TMS is a national provider with locations across the country.
You can learn more at SuccessTMS.com, or give us a call at to check your insurance coverage and get started.
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A Case Study Of Stress Leading To Depression
Lets look at an example of how stress can careen into full-blown depression. Say someone, well call her Janet, is so stressed by her job promotion she starts putting in extra hours to prove she can handle it. This makes her tired, and she start being snappy with loved ones, feels disconnected from her friends who are able to go out and have fun while she is too stressed, and feels she has no time now to exercise but instead starts overeating as a way to numb her stress.
Her energy levels lower because of her poor self-care. Shes sleeping less as she is worried she isnt doing well in her new position. She has nobody to confide in as shes pushed away her support system . Instead of talking to her manager and explaining she is feeling overwhelmed or hiring a coach to help her, she pushes herself even harder. Low level anxiety begins.
So stress has rolled into a body image issue, low self-esteem, and feeling unloved and lonely. In other words, stress has led to anxiety which has led straight to depression.
Books To Read When You Are Feeling Lonely:
1.Solitude: A Return to the Self
The author here beautifully shows the power of solitude in reinforcing our creativity by widening our view of self and the world around us. Your vision of feeling lonely is sure to change over time with this book!
Writers Tip: Have you ever noticed how our loneliness dives us into swiping through unhealthy content on social media which in turn feeds our subconscious? Then why not do the same with our books?
Even if you are not willingly ready to read any of the books on loneliness we just discussed, simply turn the pages. Your subconscious is sure to feed on the positive and healthy words. Good Luck!
If you are wondering how to turn loneliness into my best time, we will recommend you to watch our webinar on Boredom. Let us learn to turn our yawn times into our growth time!
Now that you have a list of things, what to do when you feel alone it is time to try them. If your loved one is experiencing the same feelings now you know the right gift to give them: This list of things to do when you feel alone. Show them that you care.
Dont forget to tell us in the comment section which of these activities helped you the most.
More power to you
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Try Looking At The Past In A Different Way
Along with making us believe the worst about ourselves and focus on past disappointment and future fears, depression can spin crazy stories.
It can convince us of a narrative about our lives thats genuinely hopeless.
It can take neutral events and make us the villain.
It can take a breakup and convince us that proves we will never find real love again or succeed in a relationship.
Depression knows how to hit where it hurts, and it comes out of insufficient self-love and being overly willing to believe the worst of ourselves.
Try reframing the past in a different way. Imagine you are a life investigator looking back and you are required to be completely objective.
Take a situation that often gets to you in the back of your head in your most depressed moments and then dissect that situation.
Were you really to blame? Could you really have reacted so differently or did you do the best you could?
Be objective and level some criticism if necessary. Nonetheless youre going to notice that you havent done half as badly in life as you might think you have and that youre actually a lot stronger than you realized
It’s Easy To Get The Care You Need
See a Premier Physician Network provider near you.
Anxiety, depression and stress just about everyone feels these emotions at some time. All are common reactions to lifes challenges, from losing a loved one to going through a divorce. On the surface they can look a lot alike, but there are distinct differences.
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Signs And Symptoms Of Too Much Stress
Stress is defined as a state of mental or emotional strain caused by adverse circumstances.
At one point or another, most people deal with feelings of stress. In fact, one study found that 33% of adults reported experiencing high levels of perceived stress (
The condition is associated with a long list of physical and mental symptoms.
This article will look at 11 common signs and symptoms of stress.
