Stress Management Brisbane

Managing stress is common for Australians – a 2022 NCLS Research survey found that around 40% of Australians rated their stress level at 7 out of 10 or above.

The Australian Psychological Society’s national Stress and Wellbeing survey in 2015 also found that close to two-thirds of all Australians (64%) experienced a level of stress that was impacting their mental health, and that one in five (17%) Australians reported that stress was strongly impacting their physical health.

Stress can originate from many different sources – it can be difficult to understand why you are feeling overwhelmed, what’s causing stress, and how to manage your level of stress.

At the Centre for Human Potential, we have a team of psychologists who provide stress management counselling in Brisbane. Our psychologists work with individuals to identify what is causing stress and help patients to develop skills for effective, lasting stress management.

What Causes Stress?

Stress is a normal part of life – it is built into our bodies as a system that helps us react to and deal with critical or dangerous situations. In clinical terms, the stress response is driven by hormones including adrenaline and cortisol. Adrenaline creates that immediate sense of being alert and on edge, while cortisol sustains it, keeping the body primed to respond.

Experiencing a high level of stress over a prolonged period of time is known as chronic stress. Chronic stress is when your body does not revert from being in a state of alertness to a calm state. Over time, this constant state of “fight or flight” can take a heavy toll on both physical and mental health.

Stress can arise from many different situations in life, including:

Environment stressors such as climatic conditions, noise and traffic
Social stressors such as relationships, death, financial problems and major life changes
Occupational stressors such as deadlines, job interviews, presentations and time management difficulties
Physiological stressors such as poor nutrition, lack of exercise or sleep

The Symptoms of Chronic Stress

Chronic stress symptoms can outlast the situation that may have caused the stress originally; persisting so long that the heightened state can become a person’s new normal. This is what makes stress difficult to identify – a person experiencing chronic stress may not recognise that they are stressed at all until it begins to affect their health, relationships, or work.

Stress symptoms can present as physical, cognitive, behavioural and emotional conditions. If you or a loved one consistently experiences one or more of the following symptoms, they may be dealing with the effects of chronic stress.

Recurring colds or headaches

Bowel irregularities

Nausea

Weight gain and loss

Insomnia

Hypertension

Skin problems

Hair loss

Inability to concentrate

Memory loss

Poor judgement

An overload of anxious thoughts

A pessimistic attitude to life in general

Uncharacteristic aggression

Loneliness

Depression

Procrastination

A sense of isolation

Irritability

Fatigue

Irrational responses to normal situations

Increased dependence on drugs or alcohol

Feeling agitated and unable to relax

Loss of appetite

Feeling jittery, nervous, afraid

How Stress Management Counselling Can Help

Stress management counselling gives you practical, healthy ways to cope with stress, allowing you to regain control over your own thoughts, feelings and behaviours during stressful situations.

Unlike self-prescribed methods for stress relief, our stress management psychologists use evidence-based therapies like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), mindfulness-based stress reduction, and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help you identify the root causes of stress in your life and provide strategies to make it more manageable.

If you are finding it difficult to manage and relieve the stress in your life, our psychologists can help – we provide stress management counselling at our Brisbane clinic and through online/telehealth channels.

When it comes to dealing with stress, it is always better to face it together with the support of others. Understanding that you need help and getting it is the first step to taking back control of your life and reducing your level of stress. At CFHP, our stress management therapy in Brisbane can help you find your footing and feel less overwhelmed by stress by giving you strategies and tools to better manage it.

Our Stress Management Psychologists

What Does Stress Management Involve?

Lifestyle changes

Changing the circumstances in your life that are causing you undue stress or perpetuating feelings of stress can help reduce the amount of stress you have to deal with. This can include taking a hiatus from a busy job or reducing unhealthy ways of dealing with stress like binge eating.

Mindfulness techniques

Incorporating relaxation techniques and other strategies into your daily life to help reduce the effects of stress. Some of these techniques include breathing exercises to help you focus your mind and cognitive behavioural therapy, which helps you think positively.

At CFHP, we utilise cognitive behavioural therapy to help you change your thinking patterns.

In a lot of cases, stress is caused more by your perceptions or attitudes about a situation rather than the situation itself, and your unrealistic expectations of yourself or others around you.

We will help you combat your negative thoughts by first identifying them and where they come from, and then challenge them with more positive, adaptive thoughts. By changing the way you think about certain situations, you can also change the way you feel.

Speak with us

If you have been experiencing high levels of stress for a long period of time, it’s most likely interfering with your ability to enjoy a healthy and normal life. Instead of struggling to manage it yourself, our experienced psychologists can help.

We can identify the behaviours and situations that are contributing to your stress and give you the tools you need to make changes to the things that are in your control.

No one is completely immune to stress and stressful situations, but with education and proactive stress management, Brisbane-based CFHP can help you beat it and live a healthy, positive life.

Managing Stress Through Healthy Habits and Lifestyle Changes

Identifying your warning signs:

Warning signs will differ from person to person, but common ones can include grinding your teeth, tensing your jaw, and feeling irritable or short tempered.

If you are able to identify these signs of stress, you will be able to focus on changing whatever is causing it before it becomes worse.

Identifying your triggers:

Your triggers refer to specific events or environments that cause you to feel heavily stressed. Triggers can range from interactions with certain people or circumstances like being in the workplace.

Once you know what your triggers are, you’ll be able to actively avoid them and the stress that is associated with them.

Establishing routines:

The calm and reassuring predictability of set routines and rhythms can significantly help with managing stress in your day-to-day life. Set regular times for daily activities such as waking up and going to bed, eating and exercising.

Spending time with people who care about you:

Share your thoughts and feelings with people you care about, and who care about you.

Expressing and sharing your emotions rather than bottling them up is a critical part of ongoing stress management.

Take care of overall health:

This is an especially important part of stress management because if your overall health and well-being are good, then your mental health will also improve.

Make sure you are eating well, getting enough sleep, exercising regularly, and avoid using alcohol or drugs to cope with pressures.

Practising relaxation:

Techniques such as slow breathing, muscle relaxation, meditation, tai chi, yoga, guided imagery and self-hypnosis will help you calm and settle your body and nervous system.

Make time for relaxing activities that you enjoy, like gardening, reading or listening to music.

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