Stress management

Stress is a psychosomatic condition in which a person feels pressure from the weight of their responsibilities, fear, and anxiety—often vague—which can sometimes develop into a chronic psychological disorder.

Stress is a problem that reduces the quality of life of hundreds of millions of people worldwide, which is why stress management is one of the most common issues a psychologist is called to address. When stress lasts for many months, becomes frequent and intense, and appears even in response to minor triggers, it is considered a mental disorder.

It is well known that stress affects a person significantly, both directly because it is unpleasant and indirectly. It causes difficulties in attention and memory, makes a person more prone to mistakes and omissions, reduces their functioning in various areas of life (social, professional, creative, financial, romantic), causes disturbing physical symptoms (such as tachycardia, tightness in the chest or stomach, diarrhea, frequent urination, abdominal pain, etc.), and objectively disrupts health (e.g., increasing the risk of coronary heart disease).

Stress differs from fear in that it does not arise in response to an immediate threat to physical integrity. Stress is essentially a form of resistance to the emergence of strong negative emotions such as sadness, fear, or anger, which in turn conceal psychological pain. This psychological pain is usually related to a conscious or unconscious sense that there is something we need to do—a feeling of unfinished business. This feeling is based on the belief that, in some way, we have not done well or have not done our best.