The Benefits of Therapy for Handling Stress

Stress is the body’s reaction to any change in life that requires a physical, mental, or emotional response or adjustment. Stress is a normal part of life. You can become stressed by any situation, thought or conversation that causes you to feel angry, anxious, frustrated, or even nervous. Stress can affect you both emotionally and physically. Individuals who are stressed often struggle with headaches, high blood pressure, chest pain, stomach upset, and sleep issues.

Long-Term Effects of Stress

Over time, stress can be detrimental to your health. Believe it or not, 43% of adults suffer from chronic adverse health effects due to stress. These include such issues as persistent headaches, high blood pressure, heart conditions, skin conditions, depression, and anxiety. Over 50% of all emotional health disorders are caused by uncontrolled stress reactions, and almost 90% of doctors visits are caused by stress-related ailments and conditions. Stress can even worsen the effects of various diseases, such as diabetes, asthma, and arthritis.

Dealing with Stress

Everybody faces change, challenges, and struggles at some point in their lives. It is how you handle these changes that will determine whether or not you become stressed. Some people go with the flow and handle these changes with ease. These individuals have often developed their own coping techniques that help them to release stress and improve their outlook without professional help. Others have a hard time adjusting to their new normal, both physically and emotionally. If you are overwhelmed by stress in your life, therapy might help you cope.

Stress Management Therapy

Stress management therapy is tailored specifically to those individuals who need to release stress. Stress management therapy is performed by psychiatrists and counselors as a means to help their patients relieve stress, release their tension, and regain their ability to live a happy, healthy and productive life. Stress management therapy includes many different exercises and treatments, depending on the exact needs of the patient. Therapists might utilize relaxation techniques, biofeedback exercises, and/or meditation practices in order to help their patients release stress and relax.

Individual Therapy

In an individual therapy session, patients have the opportunity to discuss their current stressors openly and without fear of judgment. Therapists will work with patients on an individual level in order to help them recognize their fears and anxiety about their current life situations. Helping their patients to recognize their exact emotional triggers is an excellent way to empower the patient to handle their stress reactions in a proactive way, before stress overtakes their lives.
Counselors use many different techniques during individual therapy sessions. These techniques might include guided relaxation and muscle stretching techniques that allow the individual to release both their emotional and physical stress in a quiet, safe environment. Individual therapy sessions focus on empowering the patient to change their own lives. Psychologists focus not only on their emotional reactions, but also on their ability to make positive changes in order to alleviate stress. This includes improving their diet and exercise, creating a social support group, and learning to focus on the positive things in life.

Group Therapy

Group therapy is a form of psychotherapy that is performed by psychologists and mental health professionals. During a group therapy session, multiple patients gather together with one or more licensed therapists and discuss their problems. Group therapy sessions typically contain between six and ten patients, and one or two therapists. Group therapy is incredibly helpful to those individuals who are looking for ways to manage their stress. During a group therapy session, patients have the opportunity to interact with others who struggle with life’s stressors. The therapist and the other patients facilitate a discussion that offers support, provides new ideas and behavioral alternatives, and most importantly, provide comfort and proactive ideas to those who are struggling with life’s transitions.

During group therapy, psychologists utilize various cognitive-behavioral therapy methods, as well as rational emotive behavioral therapies. These methods help patients learn to control stress and relieve anxiety in order to improve their lives. Rational emotive behavioral therapies, specifically, focus on the ABC method of stress control. This includes identifying the trigger, or stressor, one’s beliefs about the stressor and the emotional reaction that it causes. REBT teaches patients to change their beliefs about life’s stressors in order to improve their emotional reaction.

Family Therapy

Stressful life changes often affect the family unit. If a family is struggling with a major life change or a traumatic event, family therapy that focuses on stress management can be beneficial. Family therapists are psychologists who believe that the family is its own unique social structure. Psychologists feel that families have their own patterns of communication, which is based on a number of different factors. They also believe that illness or emotional issues within one family member can negatively affect the family unit. Family therapy can help families to deal with the stress that comes along with day-to-day challenges.

During a therapy session, the family will learn valuable skills including how to identify conflicts, triggers and anxieties. They will also learn positive methods and strategies to help resolve these conflicts. Family members will gain insight about how families function and how their individual family functions. They will have the opportunity to discuss their role within the family and determine how their perceptions affect their feelings and actions. Family therapy is an active type of therapy. It includes a lot of guided interaction and various types of discussions and exercises that are geared toward helping the family develop the tools and knowledge that they need to face life’s stressors as a unified group.