Therapy For Stress Management

Causes And Symptoms Of Stress

Stress is caused by any real or perceived challenge or threat. It can be triggered by an external event or situation, internal thoughts or worries, or a combination of both external and internal experiences.

What Causes Stress?

Some common causes of stress are as follows:

• Situations that cause pressure (e.g. taking care of a sick family member, having a heavy workload, working in a dangerous or high-stakes field)
• Big life changes or transitions (e.g. divorce, marriage, job change, new place of living)
• Periods of uncertainty
• Circumstances where you have little or no ability to control the outcome
• Lack of adequate physical and/or mental rest
• Loss of a loved one
• Trauma (experiencing or witnessing one or more distressing events)

What Are The Symptoms Of Stress?

Our bodies are made to experience and react to stress. In a moment of perceived danger, your body’s fight-or-flight response is triggered. Your heart rate increases, breathing quickens, muscles tighten, and blood pressure rises. This mechanism is how the body prepares to take action in response to danger.

While this bodily response can be helpful in many acute, stressful situations, prolonged stress can cause physical and emotional symptoms to develop.

Emotional and cognitive symptoms are as follows:

• Irritable, moody, or easily agitated
• Feeling overwhelmed
• Experiencing anxiety and agitation
• Difficulty relaxing or quieting racing thoughts and worry
• Feelings of worthlessness, loneliness, pessimism, or depression
• Avoidance of others
• Increase in forgetfulness and/or disorganization
• Difficulty concentrating

Physical symptoms may include the following:

• Fatigue or low energy
• Aches, pains, or tense muscles (such as jaw clenching)
• Chest pain
• Difficulty sleeping or insomnia
• Headaches or dizziness
• Shaking and nervous movements (such as nail biting or pacing)
• Ringing in the ears
• High blood pressure
• Digestive issue
• Cold or sweaty hands/feet
• Lack of sexual desire or inability to have sex
• Increase in colds and infections due to a weakened immune system

Chronic stress over time can lead to serious mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, anger, and addictions. It can also cause medical issues such as cardiovascular disease, obesity, skin and hair problems, and menstrual problems.

Start Therapy For Stress Management With TICTI

If you have difficulty managing stress, we are here to help. While the effects of chronic stress can be serious, therapy is an effective way to prevent symptoms from worsening and help you become more at ease.  

In addition to learning to manage your symptoms, therapy can help you make changes in your life to reduce stress. A well-trained therapist, such as those at TICTI, can also help address any underlying emotional and/or psychological issues that are causing or contributing to your stress. 

At TICTI, our compassionate therapists use research-supported treatment methods to help you increase your resilience, manage stress, and heal from deep-seated issues causing stress.  

In addition to problem-solving strategies and stress-management skills, our research-supported treatment model is individualized and may include:  

• EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing) – EMDR involves concentrating on aspects of the upsetting memory while following the therapist’s moving finger with your eyes; this is repeated until the memory is no longer distressing. EMDR has been found to be the most efficient of the well-established trauma resolution methods.
• PC (Progressive Counting) – PC, developed by our founder, Dr. Ricky Greenwald, involves watching a “movie” of the upsetting memory in your mind, while the therapist counts aloud. In all three comparison studies, PC was found to be as effective, efficient, and well-tolerated as EMDR.
• Flash – The Flash technique is a relatively new method that enables clients to resolve traumatic memories while focusing on positive imagery. Preliminary research has found Flash to be non-distressing, safe, rapid, and effective.

If you’re ready to take a step toward calm, inquire about stress management therapy today. It’s time to enjoy your life again.