Understanding and Treating Stress
Stress can feel like carrying a heavy weight that never quite lifts. You might experience it as tension in your shoulders and neck, a racing mind that won’t slow down, difficulty sleeping, or a constant sense of being overwhelmed. Perhaps you feel irritable, exhausted, or like you’re always on edge—waiting for the next demand or crisis. Your body might feel tight and fatigued, while your thoughts cycle through worries and what-ifs. This persistent state of activation can leave you feeling drained, disconnected, and unable to find the calm and balance you once knew.
Stress as a Generalized Response
Stress is a generalized response to a broad spectrum of stressors—from work pressures and relationship conflicts to financial concerns and daily hassles. While the specific triggers vary from person to person, the body and mind respond in remarkably similar ways: with heightened arousal, vigilance, and a sense of threat. What makes stress particularly challenging is that it doesn’t discriminate—it can be activated by both major life events and minor inconveniences, leaving you feeling perpetually reactive.
The Role of Perception
The therapeutic target in addressing stress is perception. How we interpret, understand, and respond to potential stressors determines the intensity and duration of our stress response. Stress is, in many ways, a construct—a learned pattern that often develops during our formative years. Perhaps you learned to view the world as demanding and threatening, or to believe that you must be perfect to be acceptable. These perceptual patterns, once established, become automatic lenses through which you view your experiences.
How We Magnify Stress
One of the most powerful ways we magnify the impact of stress is by focusing our attention on it. When we ruminate on stressors, catastrophize about potential outcomes, or constantly scan our environment for threats, we amplify the stress response. We magnify it through our attention, our thoughts, and our interpretations. This creates a cycle where stress breeds more stress, and our perception of being overwhelmed becomes self-fulfilling.
Evidence-Based Strategies
Fortunately, psychotherapy offers proven, evidence-based strategies to address stress effectively:
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps you identify and change the thought patterns that fuel stress. By examining the automatic thoughts and beliefs that magnify your stress response, you can learn to evaluate situations more realistically and respond more adaptively.
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teaches you to observe your thoughts and feelings without judgment, reducing the tendency to amplify stress through rumination. By cultivating present-moment awareness, you can break the cycle of stress-focused attention.
Relaxation Training including progressive muscle relaxation, diaphragmatic breathing, and guided imagery, provides concrete tools to activate your body’s natural relaxation response and counter the physiological effects of stress.
Stress Inoculation Training helps you develop coping skills and build resilience by gradually exposing you to manageable levels of stress in a controlled way, allowing you to practice and refine your responses.
Problem-Solving Therapy addresses stress by helping you identify specific stressors, generate solutions, and take concrete action—moving from a state of overwhelm to one of agency and control.
My Experience and Training
I have extensive experience and specialized training in treating stress and stress-related conditions. My therapeutic approach integrates evidence-based techniques tailored to your unique experiences and needs. I understand both the psychological and physiological dimensions of stress, and I am skilled in helping clients shift their perceptions, develop effective coping strategies, and build lasting resilience.
Effective treatment can help you feel calmer, more confident, and more in control of your life. I invite you to reach out to discuss how we can work together toward the relief you’re seeking. Phone: 410-970-4917; Email: edgewaterpsychotherapy@gmail.com; I look forward to hearing from you and helping you on your journey toward greater peace and wellbeing.