How To Deal
With Stress, Anxiety And Depression
How To Deal With Stress, Anxiety And Depression
- by Chris Green
(c) Chris Green - All Rights reserved
http://www.conqueringstress.com
You'll hear many times that single events can trigger a
major episode of stress,
depression and anxiety. The key
word is "trigger", because that is all a single
event is. It
doesn't actually CAUSE stress, depression or anxiety but it
does
trigger a sequence of behaviors that lead to mental
trauma.
Let's look at how this happens and then you'll find a key skill
to show you how to
deal with stress, anxiety and depression
so events don't trigger them.
Descent into a stressful, depressive or anxious episode
happens because of
negative and catastrophic reactions to
events you are confronted with. One event
by itself simply
isn't enough. There are many chain-reactions that take place
before a person becomes highly stressed or depressed or
anxious, but I'm going to
discuss one of the biggest ones:
using one event to ascribe catastrophic meanings to
all
areas of your life - I call it "generalizing".
Let's take a look at two events that most, if not all
humans, will experience during
their lifetime:
1. Loss of a job.
2. Death of a loved one.
Loss of a job is a major event that can trigger depression,
anxiety and stress.
Please understand, the job loss itself
cannot cause these problems, but it can trigger
a number of
reactions, especially
generalization and here's how it works:
You lose your job and you start to think in general terms:
"Oh no, this is disastrous! How will I deal with the
stress? What
will
people think of
me when I tell them? My job meant the whole
world to me, now my world is falling
apart. I'm nothing
without my job! How will I pay the bills? I won't be able to
get
another job and life will become a real struggle.
Everything is going wrong and I'll
never be happy again!"
Now, this reaction is typical of how a stress, anxiety and
depression
can be triggered
by one event. Powerful words -
disastrous,
nothing, struggle, everything, never -
will stir fearful
emotions within you. Self-esteem is being hit, doubt about
your
abilities is raised, and a catastrophic prediction of
the future is made. The job has also
been used to ascribe
meaning to your whole life and now it's gone, a feeling that
your
life has no meaning is also present.
A similar reaction will happen when you lose a loved one:
"I'm devastated! He/She was my whole world, and now my world
has fallen apart.
Nothing will ever be the same again, I'll
never be happy and I feel empty inside. Life
holds nothing
for me anymore and I don't know how I'll cope without
him/her. "
Can you see the generalizations? Again, we have powerful,
negative and emotionally
charged phrases to ascribe meaning:
whole world, fallen apart, nothing, never,
anymore. And a
catastrophic prediction for the future is present again.
In both examples, one event has been carried into all areas
of your life. With a job
loss, enormous importance has been
placed on the job itself and now the job has gone,
these
general meanings cause you serious distress. It's the same
with losing a loved
one. Meanings about your whole life have
been placed on one person and their passing
means your whole
life is affected.
In generalizing like this, descent into mental trauma is
inevitable.
To show you how to deal with stress, anxiety and depression
more effectively, here's
an example using the key skill of keeping
perspective. This skill is crucial.
When you are confronted by a traumatic event, you keep
perspective by separating
the traumatic event from other areas
of
your life. For example, if the event is job
loss,
you react without
generalizing:
"OK, I've lost my job, but my job is just a way to earn
income. It doesn't mean I won't
find a better job nor does
it mean that things will change for the worst. My social and
home life will still remain the same and I'll carry on with
my life just as I've always
done. One chapter in my working
life has ended and a new one is about to begin."
Do you see the difference in how keeping perspective and not
using powerful,
emotionally charged words and phrases will
prevent fearful emotions arising?
Please remember that no change is permanent as nothing lasts
forever. Things will
come into your life and things will
move out of your life. It is the cycle of life.
Keeping
perspective
and avoiding generalizing is a very important skill and it will
help
you
deal with stress, anxiety and depression more effectively by
stopping
events from triggering them.
Until next time.
Click Here Now to get started right away on
kicking stress, depression and anxiety out of your life forever
so you can enjoy a brighter, happier future!
**Resource Box**
If you'd like to know more about how to deal with stress, depression
and anxiety
without taking powerful antidepressant drugs, then
please visit the Conquering
Stress website at:
http://www.conqueringstress.com
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