Stress can be challenging to deal with on your own. Fortunately, stress management can help individuals dealing with stress find relief and healthier ways to cope. With guidance from a mental health counselor, individuals can learn how to manage their stress levels better and identify potential triggers before they become overwhelming.
Effectively managing stress, tension, frustration, and anger is about achieving a greater sense of control in and over your life. At New Directions Mental Health, we offer stress management as one of our mental health counseling options. Our experienced counselors will provide you with the individualized support and strategies necessary to reduce stress and increase your overall well-being. Call us today at 724.374.7414 to get started.
What Is Stress?
Stress is a physiological and psychological response to any demand or challenge that disrupts our equilibrium. It can be triggered by positive events, such as planning a wedding, and negative situations, like losing a job. Stress signals the body to prepare for potential danger, often called the “fight or flight” response, resulting in physical changes like increased heart rate and rapid breathing.
While short-term stress can be beneficial, helping us stay alert and focused, chronic stress can harm our health and well-being, leading to issues like insomnia, depression, and heart disease. Understanding stress and learning effective coping strategies is crucial to supporting overall health and well-being.
Understanding the Signs of Stress
Some signs can indicate you are under stress and might need stress management, including:
- Zoning out for hours in front of the television or computer
- Using alcohol or drugs to relax
- Sleeping too much
- Lashing out at others verbally or physically
- Withdrawing from family, friends, and social activities
- Trying to fill up nearly every minute of your life to avoid having to face unpleasant thoughts, feelings, or situations
- Procrastinating
- Experiencing stress-related physical ailments (frequent headaches, gastrointestinal problems, fatigue, muscle pain, etc.)
Stress can also present itself in other ways. Call New Directions Mental Health at 724.374.7414 for help addressing and managing your stress.
Why Is Stress Management Important?
Incorporating stress management techniques into your life can be fundamental when it comes to supporting your emotional well-being. When stress becomes too much, it can lead to serious health problems such as depression, anxiety, and insomnia. Additionally, when not managed properly, stress can lead to poor decision-making, relationship conflict, decreased productivity at work or school, and a weakened immune system. Significant benefits of seeking help to manage your stress can include:
- Enhanced self-awareness
- The ability to recognize and take ownership of your thoughts, feelings, and emotions
- Improved coping skills
- Learning how to effectively manage stress in the moment, as well as prevent unhealthy responses in the future
- Better communication skills
- Learning how to assert yourself and express boundaries with others in an effective manner
- Increased resilience
By learning coping skills and strategies to effectively manage stress, you can develop resilience and handle life’s daily challenges better. New Directions Mental Health offers personalized counseling focusing on stress management, relaxation techniques, cognitive restructuring, mindfulness, and more. Our experienced counselors are here to help.
How Our Stress Management Techniques Can Help with Stress Relief
People “stressed out” often feel nothing can be done to reduce their stress level. It’s an undeniable truth that elements of life, such as careers, family, financial matters, and day-to-day living, inherently come with their own set of demands and stressors.
Learning to manage stress, tension, frustration, and anger effectively is all about achieving a greater sense of control in and over your life. This includes gaining a greater sense of mastery in managing your thoughts, your emotions, your schedule, and your responses to demands in your life. The goal is a more balanced life.
Our therapists will utilize a comprehensive approach to helping you learn stress management techniques. We tailor therapy to the specific needs of each client’s situation using some combination of the following strategies:
- Development of relaxation, assertiveness, distress tolerance, and emotion regulation skills
- Development of healthy lifestyle changes
- Development of more effective ways of thinking about yourself, your relationships with others, and events in your life
- Resolution of painful emotional experiences linked to traumatic events
At New Directions Mental Health, we believe that everyone should have access to the mental health support they need.
Call New Directions Mental Health for Help Managing Your Stress
We understand that seeking help for stress can be difficult, but it is a crucial step in the right direction. Our experienced counselors are here to provide you with individualized guidance and support. We offer virtual counseling services for your convenience and safety. If you or a loved one are struggling with stress, call us today at 724.374.7414 to get started.