Stress Anxiety and Depression

Self Help - Stress Anxiety and Depression

Article by Dieter L. Editor of useNature - Author of It happened in the seventies

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Stress Anxiety and Depression

Simple, yet effective Mind Self Help Techniques

I will discuss a number of techniques. Some techniques can be applied while you have a stress, anxiety or depression attack, others are designed to modify your thinking, awareness, behaviour and lifestyle and can only be successful implemented at a time when you are mentally able and motivated.

Ask yourself; "Do I have a stress,  anxiety or depression problem"?

1.) Admitting to the problem

For most people, 'episodes' are not constant, but you are aware that from time to time, you are suffering a stressful episode. Once this has happened to you a few times, the first step for you to get better is to admit that you have an “issue” with stress, anxiety or depression.

If you deny that fact, you obviously can’t help yourself constructively.

There is no need to label your self; actually I am not a great friend of labels at the best of times, specifically not if they start to define your life. You may have depression, but that does not make you a “depressive” person, you may be extremely successful in whatever else you do, which may define you much more.

Therefore, simply admit to the fact, that you have at certain times some issues, be it anxiety or depression, and after you had it a few times, definitely admit that you got that problem and start looking for altering something within your lifestyle to bring about a change. Hopefully you will be able to cope better, or even get rid those “disorders” altogether.

On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with any emotion. In fact, there are no positive or negative emotions. Being sad is not a bad emotion, if someone close to you has died. Even having an anxiety attack before a job interview is not negative, it may however teach you to be better prepared next time.

It is also very important to differentiate if your “issues” arise out of the blue for no apparent reasons, or if you know the cause of it.

Actually, if admitting to a problem was the first step towards healing, than knowing the cause of an “issue” is the second.

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2.) What is causing my anxiety or depression?

Causative Factors

Before you do anything else, please bring everything into your awareness and find out for what reasons you had your last episode.

If you find a cause for any of your “issues”, you will not have to work on mind strategies, you will have to work on eliminating the cause instead, which is usually much easier, or if it is not possible, you may be acknowledging that there is an outside factor which can’t be influenced by you.

A worse case scenario probably would be living in a war-torn zone, how could you not be in stress, having anxiety plus getting depressed in such a situation.

Get yourself a piece of paper, and start working out possible causes. - Doing that, will achieve 2 things.

First you may actually find the causative factor, and secondly, you may find a few other causative factors not directly related, but by solving those, your stress level is going down.

We all know the phrase, “the straw that broke the camels back”. - What does that mean?

It means stress, anxiety and depression and most mental disorders are accumulative. By removing some of the causes, you will have reduced the overall load and therefore eliminated the next anxiety attack or depression episode.

Divide you paper into sections, such as:

Work – Money – Health – Relationships – Motivation – Recreation – Social Activities – Responsibilities .. and add others relevant to your Lifestyle situation.

Here comes the hard part, which is actually sitting down and working everything out on paper. You are feeling good right now, and the last thing you want to do is concentrating on the problems you have had.

Please let me assure you, if you don’t do it now, you probably will never do it. Good intentions are not good enough, no time for procrastination now …

If you haven’t started working on your list, ask yourself the question; “what stops me”?

It is always better to work on a solution than to work on a problem, be solution orientated.

Whatever you concentrate on, that part will get bigger.  - Start concentrate on solutions.

Did you find ... “the straw that broke the camels back”?
Stress Anxiety and Depression and maybe just by finding them, you feel better about it, and start working on eliminating those negative influences.

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3.) Does my health have something to do with my anxiety or depression?

Health and Fitness

The next causative layer to determine of how you cope with stress and resulting anxieties and depression, may be your lifestyle and general health.

If you do have health problems that you worry about, you would have added them to your causes list. However, for the moment I am talking about general health and how to make sure your whole being is healthy enough to cope with lives hectic circumstances.

If you are generally fit and healthy, you will feel better and will have more coping capabilities.

Are you fit? By the way, fitness can’t be stored. To be fit, you have to work on your fitness. To be fit enough for a stressful life, you even have to be more fit, meaning more workouts. The typical response I get from busy people is: “I haven’t got time to get fit”. Interestingly, it is the other way around;  “You haven’t got time Not to get fit”.

Think about it, there is a reason why some very successful people take time out to exercise, do meditation and other positive activities to replenish their energy.

It is an establish fact, that exercise is beneficial for stress – anxiety and depression.

Have you planed your exercise regime yet? If not, what stops you?

There is one more factor within the Health and Fitness toward life section, and that is “Weight”. If you are overweight, that can really weigh heavy on your mind. Being overweight is another complex issue, and often being overweight and mind issues go hand in hand, please investigate this weight issue further. See my “Holistic Weight loss Section”.

What other “straws could brake the camels back”?

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4.) Are you too serious?

What is your fun and happiness level?

Are you “all serious”, because life is sooo damn hard?

I know some extremely happy and fun people confined to a wheelchair, what could we learn from that?

We can learn about perspective.

It is always perspective, and as soon as you are able to “put yourself into the shoes of others”, you will be able to see your own situation much less serious, problematic or stressful.

Here comes another piece of paper… create some fun things to do, and what makes you happy, and remember making someone else happy brings happiness to you.

Check your awareness towards the seriousness of your life. See it in the contents of the universe, not just of your living room. Make sure you haven’t blamed anyone for your situation, blaming makes you absolutely powerless. You only gain power by taking charge and being responsible, without justifying any of your behavior.

 

To be continued .. next ... "Your Stress Thermometer" -  Stress Awareness

... or ... go back to the Stress Anxiety Depression Menu

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Article by:

Dieter L. Editor of useNature Gold Coast - Brisbane

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Disclaimer:
The information provided in this article is intended for general use and for personal interest only. It should not be used or understood as suggestion or medical advice.