Stress Management | Stress Solutions & Therapy

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On average, Canadians are less happy than they were a generation ago and a significant number of people feel they have lost control of their lives.

Change, even positive change, can be stressful. One of the best predictors of strain is the Life Events Scale through which you are simply asked to indicate how many of a variety of common life events you have experienced in the past year. You add them up and a greater number of events predicts more stress.

Too much change happening too fast, too much uncertainty, and too much demand on your time and energy can leave you feeling anxious and “stressed out.”

The Impact of Stress

Many physical illnesses are the result of stress and most, if not all, mental health problems are due to stress. In fact, 43% of adults suffer adverse health effects due to stress and 75-90% of all visits to family doctors are stress-related.

We all have some stress in our lives; some stress is good and we are built to handle it! Stress is stimulation. Stress is arousal. Arousal motivates us and moves us towards acting and coping in adaptive ways. However, too much stress for too long leaves us feeling anxious, stressed, and “burned out.”

A woman stressfully clutching her head in her hands while at work in a modern office.

Symptoms of Long-Term Stress

When we get stressed our body responds to adapt and that response in humans includes a cascade of physiological changes that are fine and adaptive in the short-run but really problematic if experienced for too long.

Symptoms of long-term stress include:

Increased blood pressure
Increased metabolism
Decreased protein synthesis, intestinal movement (digestion), immune and allergic response systems
Increased cholesterol and fatty acids in blood for energy production systems
Localized inflammation
Faster blood clotting
Increased production of blood sugar for energy
Increased stomach acids

These physiological changes result in:

Cardiovascular disease
Musculoskeletal disorders
Cancer
Ulcers
Impaired immune function
Workplace injury
Sleep problems
Anger/irritability
Changes in appetite/eating
Muscle pain
Depressed mood
Anxiety

Effective Stress Management

Young hip woman capable of managing her stress, smiling while outside a building.

Carrying too much stress for too long can lead to serious mood and anxiety problems, including major depressive disorder. Fortunately, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) has been demonstrated to be very effective in helping people to manage stress better. Because stress is associated with a number of other kinds of problems including anxiety, depression and substance use, the first step towards effective CBT for stress management is a proper and thorough differential diagnostic assessment by a psychiatrist or psychologist.

< Back to Problems Addressed

Stress

The Impact of Stress

Symptoms of Long-Term Stress

Symptoms of long-term stress include:

These physiological changes result in:

Effective Stress Management

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