Getting Help For Chronic Stress: Taking Care Of Your Tension
Stress can be a major problem with minor illnesses and with life-threatening major illnesses. You may have tried all the stress management techniques you have found, been given medication to get you through a crisis, but still feel overwhelmed with stress. Where do you go when you get to that place in your life? If help isn’t received in time, a person may become depressed and harm himself or herself or someone else. Severe stress can lead to depression and depression left untreated is dangerous.
The help you are looking for may be as close as the pastor at your church, your spouse, or a close friend. If you don’t have those people available to you, you may want to consider going for professional treatment and therapy. Your doctor may refer you to a psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, or other qualified mental health worker. If you are referred to a counselor or mental health professional there are some ideas to consider before you talk to them.
Make a list of all the things which the stress and tension in your life. Be thorough and honest about your list. Note how each of the stressors affect you, your family, your job, and your health. Note if the stressors are short-term or long-term. There are different ways of dealing with short-term stress that are not as effective with stress that is endless.
Be sure to have the support of your family and friends when you begin counseling. This will help you to make positive changes with those people supporting you.
Decide what the biggest problems are to reducing the stress in your life. Can you give something up to reduce stress or make changes in your life to make it less stress and tension filled? If you feel you have tried everything and it hasn’t worked, where do you go from there? These are all good questions to have prepared when you see a mental health provider for the first time. Decide also, that if you don’t have control of the situation, can you accept that fact and go on with your life? You may be asked to make changes that will affect you for the rest of your life. Are you willing to go through with changes even if they seem stressful right now?
Another good source of help when dealing with severe stress is a support group. One of the roughest times of my life were made easier by a women prayer group I belonged to at the time. Without the love and support of these weekly meetings I’m sure I would have a much harder time coping with the stressors in my life. A support system is important. Patients who suffer from a terminal illness have increased their survival times by meeting with other people with the same condition. Most of the substance abuse programs work with the principal of having group support and an individual mentor.
Dealing with stress is not easy but it can be made easier if you have a loving support system.
