Anyone who is alive is guaranteed to have experienced some form of stress at some point in their lives. It is not a question of who, where, or when – stress is a very natural part of living, akin to other essentials like sleeping and thinking. But what happens when stress goes too far? The answer to this can be found by only a cursory glance at today’s age, wherein the rates of stress among people of all ages have only been climbing over the past few decades.
A recent status of how stress is impacting people globally is reflected in the Ipso World Mental Health Survey published on October 9 (World Mental Health Day) of this year. Over three-fifths of adults aged 18 and over from approximately 31 countries attested to stress majorly affecting their lives several times over the past year, with 27% of these saying that their stress snowballed into depression due to an inability to cope with it. 39% of people even reported having to take time off of work as a consequence of this. It is therefore unsurprising, but disturbing nevertheless, to know that mental health has become one of the biggest global health concerns, surpassing even conditions like cancer and COVID-19.
Equally important to exploring the global prevalence of stress is understanding the ways stress wreaks havoc on our bodies and minds (and it really, truly does). Chronic untreated stress is akin to a tumor that slowly roots itself inside a human being’s body. If caught early, the tumor is no longer a threat; but if undetected, the tumor starts to grow, gaining in strength and size until it makes its presence known to the person through severe physical problems. Stress, too, if ignored for too long, builds up until the person can take it no longer.
How Stress Eats You Up from the Inside Out
The Body
1. Stress causes muscle strain. Sudden-onset stress makes the body tense; it is a reflex; protective reaction produced by our bodies. When stress becomes chronic, our bodies function in a constant state of tension, which inevitably translates to tension headaches, migraines, and other psychosomatic problems. As many as 46% of adults will suffer from tension headaches all throughout their lives.
2. Stressful situations jump-start our endocrine systems. They encourage the production of cortisol, the stress hormone, which is handy during threatening situations, but if secreted long-term due to chronic stress, causes a plethora of issues including elevated blood pressure, diabetes, coronary disease, and much more.
3. Stress is strongly connected to adverse changes in the gut. Stress damages the gut-brain connection, which in turn compromises how well our nervous systems work. In fact, chronic stress is highly correlated with stomach pain, bloating, nausea, bowel disorders, and adverse changes in appetite, which in turn effectively ruin one’s health even further.
The Mind
1. Far too many studies have shown the causal relation of stressful life events to the onset of depression in later life. Unsurprisingly, chronic stress sufferers are also most prone to developing full-fledged anxiety disorders.
2. Chronic stress is also highly predictive of insomnia. Insomniacs lead miserable lives – they are likely to be more depressed, discontent, have poorer interpersonal relationships, and even exhibit more signs of psychopathology than the average sleep-satisfied individual.
3. Chronic stress is likely to result in substance abuse problems, particularly for teenagers and young adults.
These points reflect but a fraction of the deadly potential of stress. The question that arises, thus, is: how should we stop stress from taking control of our lives?
The Answer: A Good Counselor
With the unprecedented rise in mental health disorders, the virtues of counselling have become increasingly evident to people over the last few decades Yet in many countries, Pakistan foremost among them, many still hesitate to see a counselor for their problems. In Pakistan and many other Asian countries, the stigma around seeking professional help still exists today – but here’s we should put an end to it right away.
– Counselors are not scammers, or people who want to swindle your money for “talking sessions”. Counselors are people with certification in the management of mental health issues, and with an understanding of the human psyche that comes from 6-8 years of intensive study and training.
– Counselors are trained in helping you frame your problems in a clearer manner, thus helping both you and the counselor to understand the nature of the issue and the ways it can be dealt with.
– Counselors are trained in addressing the many cognitive biases and logical fallacies that are ingrained in many of us from an early age. Things like “all-or-nothing” thinking, confirmation bias, self-fulfilling prophecies – these are all faulty cognitive mechanisms that contribute to our day-to-day stresses, and, more importantly, are extremely common. While it is difficult for people to face their own weaknesses, counselors are skilled in navigating through the whole process gently and professionally.
– Counselors come equipped with a host of stress-management techniques for their clients. They provide you with management techniques that are suited to your unique needs and situation. With tools to take care of stress in real life, counselors empower their clients in becoming self-reliant and emotionally intelligent.
– The counseling session provides what many of us desperately lack – a space for compassionate, unconditional support and guidance. Again, this is so because counsellors are trained in unconditional positive regard – a phenomenon that enables them to treat each and every one of their clients with equal empathy, concern, and compassion.
Trust counselors, and trust the process.
