Stress is a natural response to a fight-or-flight situation. It allows us to react to a threatening situation with reason and calm. But when the stressful encounter ends, and you remain in an alarmed state, you may be experiencing symptoms of Stress Disorder. As such, treatments that address the source of the stress have had the most success in alleviating Stress Disorders.
If the weight of stress affects your daily life, consider seeking a professional. It can be an empowering step towards better mental well-being, as experts offer empathetic support and a range of effective treatments. This can guide you toward a path of resilience, emotional wellness and a healthier relationship with stress.
Imagine you blow up a balloon. Squeeze lightly and then let go of it, which returns it to its original shape. That is how our body acts under stress. Stress is an action by the body that is due to real or apparent threats or challenging situations. Like the bolt of energy that prepares the body to fight off or flee the problem altogether, this response is associated with the release of hormones and chemicals that one utilises to cope.
Just like the balloon would give a gentle squeeze, our bodies can take some stress. However, extreme or prolonged tension creates problems. It is just like squeezing the balloon too hard or too often.
Stress disorders arise when a person's capacity to respond to a situation of stress is overwhelmed or dysfunctional. It's simply like that that-popping balloon under too much pressure. The symptoms may include anxiety, depression, and some physical problems. Effective stress management goes hand in hand with taking control over oneself. They need to have a very good identification of stressors, strategies for coping, and professional help in such situations. We should not keep pushing and squeezing that balloon until it bursts as we are doing with our bodies, just as we wouldn't let it burst with our hand pushing it that hard.
While it’s now widely understood that excessive stress can harm our well-being, stress has been essential to human survival since the time of our early ancestors, and it remains so today. Stress can be beneficial when it reduces anxiety in tense situations, motivates you to meet deadlines, or acts as a warning system to help prevent accidents.
When stress becomes problematic, it deviates from the normal biological process and leads to illness.
Prolonged stress keeps the body in a constant state of readiness for physical action, preventing the reestablishment of equilibrium and weakening the immune system, which can make individuals more susceptible to sickness and increases the risk of various health problems, including memory impairment, fatigue, depression, skin conditions like eczema, sleep difficulties, obesity, heart disease, digestive problems, decreased sex drive, and autoimmune diseases.
Stress can also manifest in specific ways, such as stress headaches (tension headaches), which are characterised by mild to moderate dull head pain, band-like pressure around the forehead, and tenderness of the scalp and forehead.
Additionally, stress can contribute to stomach ulcers, where the physical stress and pain from the ulcer can lead to emotional stress.
Stress eating is another common response, where individuals may overeat or without hunger as a coping mechanism, often choosing unhealthy foods and leading to weight gain and associated health problems.
Work-related stress can be a significant source of stress, whether occasional or chronic. It can stem from a lack of control or power, dissatisfaction with the job without alternatives, conflicts with coworkers, excessive work demands, or being in dangerous professions where one's life or the lives of others are at stake.
Finding work-life balance, pursuing career changes, or taking steps to improve control and satisfaction in the workplace are important for managing work-related stress and maintaining mental health.
Stress and anxiety often go hand in hand, with stress being the result of external demands and anxiety characterised by high levels of worry, unease, or fear. Anxiety can arise as a consequence of episodic or chronic stress.
Having both stress and anxiety can significantly impact health and increase the likelihood of developing conditions such as high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, panic disorder, and depression. However, there are effective treatments and strategies available to address and manage stress and anxiety.
Stress is a natural biological response that occurs when faced with a potentially dangerous situation. When stress occurs suddenly, the brain releases chemicals and hormones like adrenaline and cortisol, leading to increased heart rate, heightened awareness, and redirected blood flow to vital organs and muscles.
While adrenaline plays a role in stress, cortisol is the primary stress hormone. It serves various functions, such as increasing glucose levels in the bloodstream, optimising glucose utilisation in the brain, facilitating tissue repair, prioritising essential functions during life-threatening situations, influencing the immune system response, and affecting brain regions involved in fear, motivation, and mood regulation. This stress response is a normal and crucial process for human survival.
Before proceeding, it's important to discuss some common stressors individuals may encounter. These include
It can also stem from facing familial stressors such as
We’ve left out one additional type of event- happy events. Sometimes, expecting to be happy is attached to an event like a wedding or having a baby. Such events bring changes, and you may have new or strange demands; hence, they are very stressful to handle. Sometimes, this comes hand in hand with the pressure to conform to happiness.
In the meantime, if cortisol levels remain elevated for prolonged periods, it can have negative effects on health. Long-term high cortisol levels may contribute to weight gain, high blood pressure, sleep disturbances, lack of energy, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, mental fog, memory problems, a weakened immune system, and increased vulnerability to infections.
Furthermore, chronic stress can impact mood and lead to feelings of being overwhelmed, irritable, or fearful. It may also contribute to substance use as individuals seek relaxation, although such substances often increase stress in the long run, mainly when addiction or dependence develops.
Ideally, after the fight-or-flight response, the body should enter a relaxation response through the parasympathetic nervous system, allowing it to return to equilibrium. This response brings heart rate and blood pressure back to normal levels and enables activities like digestion and sleep to resume at their regular pace.
It's important to note that stress disorder occurs when individuals have difficulty coping with or adjusting to recent stressors. These stressors can be witnessed firsthand, personally experienced, or experienced by close family members, which increases physical or psychological demands.
While many people encounter similar stressors throughout their lives, only a small percentage of individuals experience significant maladjustment to the event, warranting psychological intervention.
This is fairly crucial to assess accurately because how stressed you feel in different situations may depend on factors like:
These factors allow a professional to deliver a prognosis after gauging details like the cause, intensity and duration of stress. It may also be affected by an individual’s available coping skills and social support systems. When stress is high and available coping skills are low, the effects of stress are more likely, which can shorten someone’s lifespan.
There are no specific treatments for stress. However, there are treatments for some of the signs and symptoms of stress.
In the initial stages, after a physician may have run some tests to see how they can help manage the symptoms, they may suggest some options to help you manage your stress, such as well-being and relaxation tips. They might be able to refer you to social prescribing if it is available in your area.
Social prescribing is a form of community-based treatment that helps you deal with social issues affecting your health. For example, this might include support for loneliness, money problems or physical activity. It can also help you find activities that improve your well-being, such as arts and gardening classes or volunteering opportunities.
If the symptoms persist, you may be given some Medication:
Your doctor might offer to prescribe:
It's essential to gather all the necessary information to make an informed decision before choosing to take any medication.
Speaking to a trained person might assist you in finding how you can manage stress and it may also assist you in learning your own thoughts and feelings better.
You may also find talking therapies useful if stress has resulted in other mental illnesses.
The various types of talking therapy don’t necessarily reduce your symptoms all the time; therefore, it is important to explore all the types and choose the one that aligns with your symptoms.
You may find certain complementary and alternative therapies helpful in treating signs and symptoms of stress. This may include:
Stress treatment can provide tremendous coping skills and support to a person in a stressful environment. The best success will occur when treatment targets the source of stress directly rather than its side effects.
Taking care of your well-being is essential for effectively managing stress. Different strategies work for other people, so here are some ideas you could try:
It's important to note that the goal of stress management isn't to eliminate stress entirely, as stress can be a healthy response in certain situations. Instead, the aim is to develop effective coping mechanisms and support systems to manage stress and promote overall well-being.
Mindtalk, a trusted mental health provider from the Cadabams family, leads the way in delivering advanced therapeutic experiences. Dedicated to holistic mental wellness, Mindtalk blends conventional and contemporary therapeutic methods to provide tailored mental health solutions. Their team of skilled professionals covers diverse mental health needs, offering everything from counselling and therapy to specialised treatments, ensuring compassionate, accessible support for everyone.
