Stress
Stress is a normal feeling in response to certain situations and is part of living a normal, healthy life. However when stress levels remain too high for too long it can have a significant impact on an individual’s physical health, mental health, personal relationships and functioning in the workplace.
Stress can be brought on by anything, but normally is related to a significant change in circumstances such as work pressures and deadlines, financial issues, relationship changes and family difficulties. Stressful events are generally unavoidable, however feelings of stress stem from an individual’s perception in their ability to effectively cope with the stressful event rather than the event itself. Experiencing stressful events cannot always be avoided, but you can develop the psychological tools and strategies so you are better able to manage them when they do arise.
Common symptoms of stress can include:
- Hypertension
- Increased heart rate
- Headaches or migraines
- Disrupted eating patterns
- Muscle pains or aches (headache, backache)
- Diarrhoea
- Stomach pain
- Withdrawal from social activities
- Feeling overwhelmed or overloaded
- Feeling wound up or tense
- Avoidance of activities or obligations
Each person will experience stress differently, and may find they present with any number and combination of the above symptoms and symptoms not mentioned.
Getting help
When you are feeling highly stressed, it can sometimes seem impossible to know “where to start” to manage the things which are worrying you. Through treatment, your psychologist can begin to work with you to understand what it is that is causing you stress, further insight into the stressors and your responses and ways to help you to manage stress more effectively. One of the most difficult aspects of coping well with stress is the identification of where stress comes from, and the management of stress in early stages. Whilst stress will never be removed completely from your life as stressful circumstances will always arise, you can learn different coping strategies to manage stress in a much more productive way.
At Strategic Psychology we have trained psychologists who are able to work with you to reduce your symptoms of stress, identify and allow you to pre-empt your stress triggers to reduce the effect stressful events may have on your life and focus on living a meaningful, productive life without stress holding you back.
You can contact us at Strategic Psychology via phone, email, or by dropping in to our office to arrange for an initial session with a psychologist to begin to address the impact stress is having on your life.
No referral is needed to make an appointment, however, you can arrange for an appointment with your GP to discuss your mental health and the support which can be available through Medicare to access treatment services. If you are eligible for a Mental Health Care Plan, your GP can provide this to you to bring along to your session which will allow you to access a rebate through Medicare.
