Stress

Stress occurs when we experience a situation in which we feel frustrated, angry or anxious. If our subconscious reads a situation as being potentially dangerous, it sends our body into fight or flight mode, in which we become excited and geared to either fight or run away. In a dangerous situation this reaction is useful, but in an everyday situation- such as a meeting with the boss-these feelings lead to stress.

Anxiety is a set of feelings that stem from apprehension or fear. Sometimes the person experiencing the anxiety will not be able too pinpoint the source of the anxiety. Anxiety is also a natural response that teaches us to avoid dangerous situations. However sometimes the feelings of anxiety can become overwhelming and distorts our belief system. So a client may find that they want to consciously do something that their subconscious is telling them they should avoid, based on previous experience. It can affect a clients emotions, behaviour and physical health. When feeling anxious a client may try to avoid the situation that causes the anxiety. This avoidance increases the anxiety about facing the situation. The more anxiety we feel, the more situations we avoid that make us anxious.

Change is a major factor in creating stress and anxiety. As it causes uncertainty as to whether the client will succeed or fail.

If you have a client who experiences a continual state of anxiety, be cautious as there might be an underlying medical cause, such as a neurological condition, or they may have a mental disorder. If they have a mental disorder you must refer them on. If it is medical you need to gain consent from their doctor and your supervisor, before you can work with them.

There are different types of stress. Hypostress occurs when someone is experiencing stress caused by boredom. They may have a job that doesn't challenge them and causes lack of motivation in their life. Eustress is positive short-term stress, that occurs when we increase of physical activity to achieve a task, increasing our performance and motivation. Acute Stress is the most recognisable, and appears as tension and physical issues, it can take six weeks to treat. Whilst Episodic Acute Stress can be more damaging, with more sever physical symptoms such as strokes and heart attacks. It can take about six months to treat with medical assistance. Chronic Stress is long term stress that can cause medical conditions such as diabetes and cancer. Although it can be treated, the treatment can take years. In some cases of acute, episodic and chronic stress, the client will be seeing a doctor as well and you will need the doctors consent to treat them. Traumatic stress is the result of a client undergoing an extreme case acute stress. An example is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which can occur after a person survives and acutely stressful situation. It can involve panic attacks and flashbacks to the event, and must only be treated by a multidisciplinary team of specialists.

The most common symptoms of stress are Psychological changes that can occur as depression, anxiety, and inability to concentrate. Sleep disturbance is another symptom. It may be that they cannot fall asleep, or wake in the middle of the night and cannot get back to sleep. Stress can also cause sexual dysfunction. Symptoms can include lack of libido, inability to achieve orgasm and impotence.

There may be an obvious trigger that causes the stress, such as public speaking. If there is no trigger, the symptoms will probably be constant, and could manifest in low self esteem and feelings of failure. If this is the case they will need to be treated for low self esteem as well. They could have related deeper issues such as depression, phobic responses, or panic syndrome.

The symptoms of anxiety can include trembling, tense muscles,nausea, headache and heart palpitations, among others. These symptoms are the ones that might occur in preparation for fight or flight. In such a situation the body would need to eliminate waste and send oxygen to feed the muscles needed for action.

Panic Attacks are when a client finds themselves in a situation so stressful to them, that they experience physical symptoms similar to having a heart attack. These can include palpitations, chest pain, shaking and dizziness. They can also include feeling detached and a fear of losing control or even death. Panic attacks can be cyclical, once they have had one- the fear of having another induces another panic attack.

A phobia is an irrational fear of something that stems from our subconscious. It is an acute fear and treatment will involve some uncovering technique. The different types of phobias are firstly- Simple- where there is just one trigger, such as spiders. Complex phobias involve various stimuli, such as boats, open spaces and drowning. Social phobias include blushing and shaking, or any unwanted behaviour when in the company of others. Agoraphobia is a fear of going outside.

Phobias can be the product of severe stress, for example a person may have been feeling acutely stressed at work and then begun to feel phobic towards something related to their work. It could be the product of several instances of stress over the years. You may experience phobia as you are afraid of experiencing panic, so you become phobic of situations that trigger that- such as social situations. It may be that the phobia stems from trauma, possibly encountered in childhood.

A habit is something we do without thinking about it. Detrimental habits could include comfort eating or smoking. We use habits as a problem solving technique- reverting to our habitual