STRESS treatment

Are you familiar with the board game Risk?

​It's essentially about conquering the world.

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Fundamentally, your body has a red system, a green system, and a blue system:

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The Threat System:

The red system revs up and prepares your body for fight or flight. When you're stressed, the red system pumps adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol throughout your body.

These hormones keep you on your toes, ready to run or fight, and your thinking narrows down, automatically scanning for anything potentially dangerous.

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The Soothing System:

The green system is responsible for helping you relax. It brings your body back down to earth by releasing oxytocin and endorphins.

When you predominantly activate the Soothing System, you're able to feel the things that make you happy and recognize what is right and important for you. Your thinking expands, and you can see options for action while experiencing balance and energy.

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Drive:

You also have a system that motivates you. It's essentially neutral, but many of us don't take the time to assess what is truly important for us to pursue. As a result, we often chase after the wrong "medals."

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Ideally, the systems are balanced. 

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However, many of us spend a significant amount of time in either the Threat System or Drive, and we don't always transition into the Soothing System for a long enough period to restore balance.

Kortisol is the red enemy. Oxytocin is our green commander. The red soldiers have too much control over your world map – let's create some more green ones!

We react to stress based on our genetics, environment, and "rules for living." 

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Therefore, the symptoms and causes can vary greatly from person to person.

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Your body's mechanisms are the same, whether the stress is due to poor workplace conditions, a divorce, the death of a loved one, illness, a traumatic experience, or simply prolonged overload, regardless of whether there was a specific triggering cause that you are aware of.

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Because stress leaves such physical imprints, we have to consider both the body and mind.

That's why I have a range of other tools in my toolbox, including Mindfulness, which is evidence-based and helps reduce symptoms and manage stress.

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The treatment of stress - step by step

Some people prefer to have an initial phone conversation with me, while others are ready to book a session right away. You decide what works best for you.

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I will send you a link to my online booking and we agree on whether to use Zoom, Facetime or WhatsApp. Before your session starts you will have pen and paper ready to take notes during the session.

We will start each session by making an agenda for the content to make sure we address the most important issues each time.

I will be assessing your stress symptoms each session in order for you to see for yourself how they decrease. 

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Our brains are naturally designed to reject signs of improvement because they "scan" the environment for potential dangers.

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By monitoring your progress, we obtain tangible evidence that your nervous system is improving. This provides both hope and belief that you will emerge stronger on the other side.

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The cognitive approach helps you understand how you think and how you can change unhelpful thought patterns.

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Additionally, you will receive small homework assignments after each session, giving you something concrete to act on. Taking action and doing something to help yourself will further suppress the red system.

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Furthermore, I will teach you Mindfulness techniques in manageable doses. They will become your new best friends in your everyday life.

STRESS treatment online