What is Stress?
Stress is that feeling of pressure we can get when we don't feel in control or on top of things. A small amount of stress is a normal part of our daily lives and can be a positive thing as it can keep us motivated and focused. It is also an absolutely necessary factor in our ability to relate effectively to the outside world.
We all have a natural FREEZE, FLIGHT or FIGHT Response that helps us to react accordingly to whatever we have to deal with. It is a physiological reaction that occurs in response to a perceived harmful event, attack, or threat to survival.
However, in today’s society, we rarely experience things that constitute an actual threat and yet people are feeling this stress response in more and more situations that they perceive as being stressful.
We each have a different level of tolerance to Stress depending on many factors, including our personality type, childhood experiences and how well developed our Cognition and Internal Locus of Control is (our belief in our ability to handle anything that comes up).
It is well known that Stress can be a trigger for Depression and Depressive Disorders and continual exposure to Stress can affect your Physical as well as Mental Health.
Some of the more common Stress Triggers are:
Loss and Bereavement
Divorce or Separation
Long-term illnesses
Disabilities
Moving Home
Marriage
Starting a new job
Being promoted into more responsibility
Money Problems
The Symptoms of Stress are also well documented and can include:
Becoming Irritated Easily
Being worried about being criticised
Biting your Nails
Sleeping Problems
Excessive Drinking
Difficulty concentrating
Every person has their own “Individual Stress Limit” and of course this limit depends on many different factors inherent in the person but as long as we don’t operate too near our own limit, then we are generally able to deal with the day to day Stress that we are exposed to.
If however, we spend most of our time at the limit of our Stress, then it doesn’t take much additional Stress to “send us over the edge” to a point where we feel that we can’t cope anymore and then may feel out of control or overloaded. At this point Stress feels intolerable.
What people generally don’t appreciate is that our “Individual Stress Limit” is in fact determined by our cognition or the way that we think or view any particular situation. in other words our individual “Perspective”.
Sometimes simply modifying this “Perspective” can have a profound effect on our ability to deal with Stress factors.
Hypnotherapy & Mindset Training for Stress Management
Through an initial consultation we can talk about how much stress is affecting your daily life and this will determine the choice of therapy that's going to be most effective for you to learn how to manage stress in a more helpful way. If you have any questions call me on 07970298545 or book a free consultation.