Stress Management
in Houston, TX and Online
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If you answered “yes” to most of the questions, then you may benefit from stress therapy to develop coping skills to deal with and reduce chronic stress.
What is Stress?
Stress is the way that we respond physically, emotionally, mentally, and behaviorally to both positive and negative change in our lives, imposed demands, or situations in which we feel we have no control. Even imagined change can cause stress.
Stress by itself isn’t problematic as our bodies are designed to cope with stress. Stress becomes problematic when it is persistent or we don’t feel equipped to cope with the change.
This can leave our body on overdrive without time to heal and move back to equilibrium.
Over time, high stress levels can lead to premature aging, cognitive impairment, anxiety or depression, and drained energy and mental clarity, which is why it’s a good idea to talk with someone when you start feeling overstressed.
High Life Stressors
These particular events are known to be amongst the highest stress producing events in one’s life. They often create significant symptoms of stress and anxiety and can lead to depression when not processed effectively.
- Losing one’s job (read more about our job search counseling)
- Going through a divorce or break-up
- Death or loss of a family member or close relationship
- Diagnosis of a chronic or serious illness
- Moving, especially to an area with no support system
- Life changes such as marriage, infertility or the birth of a child
- Trauma or natural disaster (read more about how EMDR therapy can help)
These are acute stress examples.
Chronic Stress
Stress is a normal response to change. However, when our bodies are in a chronic state of stress or we experience continuous stress without relief or relaxation in between, it can wreak havoc on our physical and mental health. Even more dangerous is that we can become numb to chronic stress, it becomes the “new normal.” This is particularly true in cases of childhood trauma. The body physically can be left in a state of chronic stress, which is the “normal” state.
Sometimes life is tough and you may find yourself moving from one stressful circumstance to the next. While we can’t change what occurs in your life, we can help you cope with the stress and building resilience, which can prevent more serious factors such as depression, anxiety or physical health problems from surfacing.
Other times, you may wonder if there is a dark cloud following you. Sometimes, the way that we respond to circumstances can increase our stress and create additional problems. Some examples include resisting or fighting against change we have no control over, difficulty accepting a negative circumstance that has occurred in our lives, unresolved trauma, or not believing we can handle difficulties (“I’ll fall apart.”) Sometimes, stress or the anticipation of stress leads us to avoid tackling important yet difficult issues. This can lead to a snowball effect and create chronic stress in our lives.
Therapy for Stress Relief
When stress builds up it can make it difficult for you to concentrate and feel like yourself. To start with, counseling is a place for you to express and process the stress in your life to release emotional pressure.
We all can benefit from outside help for managing stress in our lives. If nothing else, talk therapy alone reduces stress and can be a calming way to relieve tension and gain clarity about your situation.
A counselor can help you to work through the emotions that are triggered, gain different perspectives about your situation, relieve pressure, and identify stress reduction strategies.
Your counselor may even help you find new solutions to problems that have contributed to the source of your stress or current stressful situations.
The bottom line is, we can control how we respond to stress, which can significantly impact our physical and emotional health.
Stress Therapy FAQ's
When stress hormones are repeatedly triggered, chronic stress occurs. Our body does signal us when we are we are experiencing the effects of chronic stress. Chronic stress can damage physical and emotional health.
Symptoms of a chronic stress level include:
- Tension, lethargy, fatigue, muscle aches, headaches, back pain, restlessness, insomnia
- Digestive upset, abdominal pain, appetite change
- Forgetfulness, low productivity, confusion, poor concentration, negativity, busy mind
- Anxiety, mood swings, irritability, depression, resentment, anger, impatience, worrying, feeling pressured
- Lashing out, decreased sex drive, lack of intimacy, isolation, intolerance, loneliness, avoiding social situations, alcohol, tobacco, and/or drug use
- Apathy, loss of direction, emptiness, loss of life’s meaning, no sense of purpose
When we find ourselves in situations that challenge us too much we react with the “fight or flight” stress response. Stress actually begins in our brains and it is expressed in our body.
Once we perceive stress our body sends our chemical messengers in the form of stress hormones to help our bodies handle the stress. When these stress hormones are persistent is when trouble starts with our health.
Stress causes physical changes to occur in our bodies. The effects of stress on physical health is significant.
Chronic stress can cause ulcers, headaches or migraines, digestive disorders, weight gain or weight loss, fatigue, muscle tension which can lead to chronic pain, insomnia and sleep disorders, weakened immune system, high blood pressure, heart disease, heart attack or stroke.
Stress can also lead to addictions such as alcoholism, compulsive eating or more severe mental health conditions such as mood disorders or eating disorders.
Mentally, chronic stress leads to reduced ability to focus, brain fog, and difficulty concentrating.
Stress Management Counseling Services Can Help You:
- Focus on areas in which you have control
- Learn coping strategies for chronic stress and find stress relief
- Pinpoint causes of stress in your life and reduce your stress
- Deal with stress at work or even change jobs
- Learn and practice relaxation techniques
- Increase self-esteem
- Decrease perfectionism
- Learn to set boundaries with others
- Communicate assertively and say no when appropriate
- Practice greater self-care
- Create supportive relationships
- Clarify your values and make meaningful decisions
Let us help you take back your life.
Get Help From a Specialist in Stress Management
Alexandra Marshall
Alexandra’s focus is on helping you develop self-confidence, cope with feelings of anxiety, emotional eating, loneliness and isolation, and mana…
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Alexis Leeper
Alexis specializes in working with adolescents, young adults, adults, and families. She has experience working with anxiety, depression, disorde…
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Andrew Tessmer
Andrew helps people learn to feel comfortable in their own skin and cope with perfectionism, fear of failure, constant worry, lack of motivation…
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Brittnie Grono
Brittnie’s aim is to provide guidance, support, and a safe space that encourages growth and healing.
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Diana Cabrera-Stewart
Diana’s specialty areas include working with mothers at any stage in their journey, as well as working with clients for whom race, culture, ethn…
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Elizabeth Lowrey
Elizabeth’s specialties include problematic alcohol use, addiction difficulties, adjusting to chronic illness, grief, loss, anxiety and depressi…
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Erica Billings
Erica specializes in working with new parents including adoptive parents and LGBTQ+ families and people who are experiencing grief, death, berea…
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Greta Bellinger
Greta’s passion is to help individuals live an authentic and meaningful life through self-acceptance and compassion. She provides a space of emp…
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Holly Lark
Holly specializes in working with adolescents, young adults, and women. She is passionate about helping clients work through life transitions, b…
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Jehanzeb Dar
Jehanzeb provides individual, couples, and group therapy services to people from diverse racial, ethnic, gender, socioeconomic, sexual orientati…
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Jennifer Castro
With over 10 years of experience in the mental health field, Jennifer is passionate about helping you work through grief, anxiety, OCD, disorder…
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Joan Mullinax
Joan specializes in therapy services and career counseling and helps clients with challenges incl. anxiety, depression, self-esteem, relationshi…
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Joey Harmon
Joey offers therapeutic services for everyone aged 3 and up and strives to provide a judgment-free environment for you or your child to learn an…
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Katie Osgood
Katie enjoys working with adolescents and adults around a variety of challenges, including anxiety, depression, disordered eating, body-image co…
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Kelsey Engdorf
Kelsey enjoys working with teens, young adults, and couples to help them build the lives they want and make meaningful changes.
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Kristen Ameli Matthews
Kristen is here to help you regain a sense of control over your life, build coping skills, and assist you in making the changes you desire.
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Maggie Burkett
Maggie enjoys working with children, teens, and adults experiencing trauma, anxiety, depression, abuse, PTSD, self-harm, etc. Maggie is also a c…
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Marcie Dinkin
Marcie works with parents, young adults, and teens, together or individually, to assess what the major issues and roadblocks are, address any hu…
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Mariela Zavala
Mariela has a great interest in working with young mothers and adults from various backgrounds. Mariela can serve clients from diverse socioecon…
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Rebecca Burke
Rebecca works with clients experiencing a variety of symptoms including depression, anxiety, disordered eating, major life transitions, and mari…
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Samantha Birnbaum
Sam specializes in working with teens, adults, and families that are struggling with depression, anxiety, body image & eating disorders, addicti…
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Sarah Agarwal
Sarah’s specialty is working with children, teens, young adults, and parents. Sarah is an experienced play therapist and works with parents usin…
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Sarah Soto
Sarah’s specialties and professional interests include helping people through life changes, trauma, PTSD, abuse, anxiety, stress, depression, AD…
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Shannon Forbes
Shannon offers affordable counseling for adults & couples. Her specialties include anxiety, career concerns, depression, grief & loss, ocd, trau…
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Steven Serrano
Steven is a bilingual (English & Spanish) psychotherapist. Steven’s experience includes counseling individuals, couples, families and teens in t…
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Suzanne Kamfar
Suzanne (Susan) is bilingual (English & Farsi). Her focus is on helping you navigate through life with balance, harmony, and authenticity. She w…
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Terra Ousley
Terra works with clients who struggle to find clarity in their careers and those experiencing issues with anxiety, stress, self-esteem, and life…
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Tiara Runyon
Tiara offers a collaborative approach, fit to suit your individual needs. Her experience includes working with those facing life transitions and…
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Vanessa Guidry
Vanessa works with children, teens, young adults and families. She helps with behavioral concerns, emotional stress such as anxiety, anger and d…
BOOK AN APPOINTMENTWhat Clients Are Saying
Helped me Forge a Great Foundation
My counselor helped me process some difficult issues and helped me forge a great foundation for the future. She really understood how to make the space I needed to reach my goals with therapy and I could not have asked for more empathetic and generous support.
Alabama