What is Serious Stress..?

healthydailymail.com "Health News" Serious stress can come from dealing with a personal crisis, a disaster, a health crisis, or a mental health condition that feels out of control.

Some of the things that can lead people to experience serious stress are:

• Situations where the pain keeps coming, leaving a person in a constant state of fear and watchfulness. When people are in situations like bullying or abusive families, they never know when violence will raise its ugly head. Living in these kinds of situations can wear down our stress response and put us in stress overload.

• Stress that causes people to lose their emotional balance and react in ways that are self-destructive. Sometimes people react to stress in ways that cause more stress or self-harm, like cutting, running away, or abusing drugs and alcohol.

• Stress that builds or comes on so suddenly that a person is left feeling afraid, overwhelmed, or depressed. When stress starts to interfere with the ability to enjoy everyday life, it's serious.

PTSD is an example of stress that's serious and intense. PTSD is a specific type of stress reaction caused by a traumatic event that's so intense it overwhelms the person's ability to cope.

Serious stress is not at all routine. With serious types of stress, you probably need some extra help and support.

When stress is serious, approaching it with these ideas in mind can help:

• Don't ignore a big problem, hoping it will go away.
• Get help figuring out how you'll cope. When stress builds so it becomes unmanageable, it's not always possible to see a way out or a clear answer on what to do. In these cases, you probably need help dealing with whatever situation is creating serious stress for you. This is when it's time to turn to a parent, counselor, therapist, religious leader, teacher, coach, or someone else you trust and ask for help.
• Work on building your coping mechanisms. Manage everyday stress by making small goals and breaking big ones down into manageable chunks. You're less likely to feel overwhelmed, and taking charge of small things can help you feel better. Don't give up.
• Be kind to yourself. Practices that build well-being and happiness work to counterbalance even the biggest challenges. Meditation, finding things to be grateful for, doing what you love, being with positive people, recognizing the good in yourself — all of these can help build inner resilience and tip the balance in a more positive direction.

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