8 Types of Mental Health Treatments That Work for Stress
While it’s true that moderate levels of stress can be good – because they can motivate us to work towards important goals – high levels of stress can complicate one’s life, making everything feel heavy, heavy. And looks challenging. Moreover, unmanaged stress can lead to serious conditions such as depression and increased anxiety.
The good news is that there are many types of mental health treatments that can help manage stress and prevent things from getting worse. Here are 8 great remedies that can help you deal with this mental and physical stress:
1. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Based on identifying negative thought patterns that may contribute to high stress levels, CBT is one of the most popular forms of mental health treatment that works with this problem.
Standard CBT techniques include grounding, journaling, role playing, guided discovery, and gradual exposure. Working with a CBT therapist can help you identify and change unhealthy thought patterns, develop specific coping tools, improve your emotions, and create and implement new, helpful behaviors. can
Cognitive behavioral therapy can be used short-term or long-term, depending on one’s needs. As such, it is suitable for helping to cope with traumatic events and can also be used to treat chronic mental health conditions.
2. Behavioral therapy
Although it is similar to CBT, behavioral therapy has a different goal: it focuses on changes in behavior. It focuses more on your thoughts than your actions.
People who undergo behavioral therapy learn that their actions are always consistent with their previous behaviors. Thus, changing your response to stress can help you create new patterns that will help you cope with stress later.
This type of therapy is most effective with long-term stress triggers, such as phobias, generalized anxiety, traumatic events, and ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder).
3. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
An increasingly popular approach to solving problems related to high stress levels, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps people move past challenges and improve their quality of life.
ACT is about making peace with things – it focuses on accepting them rather than trying to change them. The goal of therapy is to teach someone to commit to actions that improve their condition and to accept things that are out of their control.
Regarding stress, ACT allows a person to recognize and accept that a situation is stressful and that some things about it cannot be changed. Instead, they need to look for something that can be changed and, thus, improve the overall situation.
4. Exposure therapy
Traditionally used to treat anxiety disorders, PTSD and phobias, exposure therapy is another excellent technique for dealing with stress. This can be particularly beneficial for people with mental health conditions that cause them to avoid certain places, people, objects and situations.
If you often practice avoidance to avoid high stress, exposure therapy can be very helpful. After all, remember that avoidance is never a good long-term solution – it will only make you feel more anxious and make anxiety and stress worse.
In exposure therapy, therapists gradually expose clients to stimuli they would otherwise avoid. The goal is to help a person deal with their fears over time and not stress about them so much.
5. Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
MBSR and its cousin MBCT (Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy) belong to a category of unique approaches that help individuals deal with common life challenges, including everyday stress.
The idea behind mindfulness is that many people “live in their heads” and ignore the world around them, which more often than not, can lead to high stress levels. Practicing mindfulness can help people anchor themselves in their senses, grounding themselves in the “here and now.”
Participants in mindfulness-based therapies such as MBSR and MBCT learn essential information about yoga, meditation, and various practical stress management tools. All of these can significantly reduce anxiety symptoms and reduce stress.
6. Positive psychology for stress
A relatively new approach to therapy, positive psychology identifies and expands on the qualities that help individuals thrive. Because it develops and strengthens attitudes and skills that focus on what works rather than what doesn’t, this mental health therapy can benefit people with stress.
When a therapist incorporates this perspective while working with a client, they help the person develop stress-reducing perspectives and skills such as gratitude and optimism. Additionally, positive psychology helps clients recognize and use some of their strengths
