me?” The most common stress factors
person may need to be re-assessed by a
include work, money matters, relationships,
trained psychologist. The point is it may get
housing, among other things.
way out of control.
However, there is a big difference when
There are several ways of dealing with
stress affects your mental health. To put
stress. The first step is to find out what the
it simply, it puts extra pressure on the self.
cause of the stress is, then identify the
The reason for this is that you are dealing
key stress points and tackle them. Find a
with your mental health condition as well
positive or alternative way of thinking by
as your stress levels (double trouble). There
changing your thought patterns. It may
is also the possibility of stress having an
sound difficult, but it is one of the better
adverse effect on this condition. Depend-
ways of dealing with stress. The good thing
ing on the condition, a person will tend to
about it is that you may find another way of
think increasingly negative thoughts and
dealing with the source of the stress. If it is
will start to imagine the worst situation and what its outcomes will be. Sometimes, in extreme situations, it may cause the person to have an outburst of emotion towards another. This could be because the person has become delusional; in short, the person has thought so much that it has started to get out of hand. Bear in mind that this is in
still causing trouble, you may want to speak to someone. In some cases, however, stress can be positive. Research has shown that a “moderate” level of stress makes us perform better than usual. It also makes us more alert. It can help us perform better in various situations such as job interviews or public speaking.
extreme circumstances. In some cases, the
www.haringey.gov.uk/equilibrium
EQUILIBRIUM 23