How to overcome stress or anxiety ?

Stress is a set of physiological reactions triggered by our body when we experience a situation that generates a risk, fear or anxiety. Then a biological mechanism occurs which aims to prepare the organism to react to these dangerous stimuli. The body starts to secrete particular hormones, especially adrenaline, and we activate specific behaviors (escape, alert, paralysis).

While it may be common for some people to consider stress as positive or even stimulating, uncontrolled stress can eventually constitute a pathological state that paralyzes the person and seriously affects their health.

What causes stress ?

If stress is a reaction to a situation that is considered dangerous and stressful, the situations of stress vary according to the people and their sensitivity to this or that situation. The person’s life experience or their frailties may also be risk factors, however a number of situations constitute particular stress risk factors:

Stress in everyday life

Conflictual or toxic social relationships, unstable love life or problematic family relationships: 

• social interactions are fundamental for the human being, social tensions can therefore generate psychological tensions and sources of stress.

• Work and working life are today one of the main sources of stress. Risk factors can appear in different ways: when the performance requirements are too high, when the work environment is not optimized to allow a fulfilling professional life (situation of harassment, lack of help, etc.) , or when the working time is too long and overlaps with the person’s private life.

Stress related to health

Physical suffering, linked to an illness or disability, can generate anxiety and intense stress related to the loss of our physical integrity or even our chances of survival.

Psychological suffering, present or past (trauma, family conflicts, abuse, violence) are also risk factors for stress.

Lifestyle stress

Certain lifestyles and habits can promote the onset of stress. Excessive consumption of certain inflammatory substances (added sugars), excitatory substances (soft drinks, coffee, tea) or the use of drugs or alcohol contribute to an increase in nervous tension, and impair our ability to react to certain life situations that are cause for anxiety.

What are the warning signs ?

Stress can manifest itself in these 4 different dimensions:

Emotion and psychology :

• Tension, anger spike

• Mood disorders

• Restlessness, increased activity

• Depression and anxiety

Thinking and cognition :

• Difficulty in concentration and attention

• Anxiety

• Memory loss

• Fatalistic, negative ideas

Body :

• Difficulty in finding sleep

• Troubled libido

• Migraine and headache

• Fatigue and exhaustion

• Stomach ball, nausea

Behaviour :

• Unusual nervousness

• Phase out power

• Isolation, aggressiveness, irritability

• Disturbed sleep

What psychological treatment for stress ?

The consequences of stress can be particularly severe when it is not treated and gradually invades the entire life of the individual. In order not to end up feeling stress due to multiple non-life events, nor suffer the adverse consequences of stress on health (thrombosis, heart attack, cardiovascular damage), it is essential to consult professionals as soon as the signs or feelings of stress begin to settle in your life.

Your psychologist will help you identify the causes and mechanisms of your stress, whether they are:

• Interns: traumas and life paths, thoughts, risky behaviors, way of being in a couple or at work, etc.

• External: social or professional relationship distressing and stressful, illness, etc

The therapy will then aim to teach you how to better manage the factors that increase your stress, while creating the conditions for your appeasement.

This approach may be coupled in two dimensions:

• Tips to apply in everyday life: relaxation methods, abandonment of stress-generating behaviors, setting up habits and anti-stress behaviors.

• Profound changes: new way of being in your couple, new way of managing professional and social pressure, resolution of conflicts and problems causing your stress.

Seeking support is okay and takes a lot of courage.

If you're facing difficult times in your marriage, family, or struggling with challenges in everyday life, this is the place to find your answers in Hong Kong.

Are you experiencing anxiety, stress, and worry? Are you curious about why your partner and you get into the same arguments every week or how to be more patient with your family? You're not the only one feeling this way. Despite our best efforts in tough times, it's never a bad idea to seek help from a professional counsellor, psychologist, or therapist. Like shoes, you have to find the right therapist that fits you.

RITMO (derived form EMDR) and EFT therapies can definitely help you overcome what seems insurmountable, relieve you and find tools to change your patterns.

Let's book a session now with a stress and anxiety counselor in Hong Kong.

How to overcome stress or anxiety.