Stress and Stress Management

People often talk about being stressed, and about managing stress. I think it helps to take a closer look at what stress is.

Stress is, in some ways, a psychological/physiological response to a stimuli. The stimuli can be externally or internally generated. For instance, it could be a colleague at work, or it could be worry about an exam.

The important thing to focus on is that stress is a response to something. It manifests as worry, fear, anxiety, anger, depression, and so on. There are stressors, and there are stress responses. This give you a couple options. One, you can manage your response or you can manage the stimulus.

Managing the stimulus might mean talking directly with your colleague, or studying for an exam, speaking to the professor of the course, or avoidance. Managing the stimulus might also entail managing what it means to you and why.

Managing your response would entail doing something so that you are not worrying, afraid, etc., or those feelings are lowered to a level which you consider tolerable.

There are a number of techniques to do the latter. These include creative visualization, meditation, yoga, journaling, finding support and talking to friends, going to the gym, hot baths, etc. You need to find out what works for you.

Often, or course, we use a combination of both dealing with the stimulus, and dealing with our response.

To start, take a piece of paper and divide it into two columns. Label one stimulus, and the other my response. Below that, rate the level of both, 1 being low 10 being high. Below that, write out an exact description of each. Then write down the techniques you are going to use to deal with each.

Keep a journal with two columns. Each day, or half day, or whenever it is convenient, and you have focused on working on one or both, write down what you have done and how effective it is. Then rate the level of strength of the stimulus and/or response on you after doing so. After a while, you will find there is a decrease in the one (or both) that was high.

A therapist can help you learn and use techniques to manage your stress responses and to understand what you are doing that is creating and maintaining them. He can also help you understand what it is about the stressor which is leading you to have a stress response. When you change your perceptions about the stressor, you may not have the stress response, or it will not be as strong.