Stress can manifest differently in different individuals. Sometimes it manifests directly
as anxiety, depression, indecision, poor concentration, tiredness
whereas at other times it manifests in a disguised way.
People become unhappy about their jobs, about their relationships, about the place they live,
and sometimes it can also lead to some addictions.
People start relying on smoking, alcohol, even sexual addiction can be seen as part of stress.
Whereas, for others, it manifests in the body form.
It can manifest as high blood pressure, asthma, skin disorders, irritable bowel syndrome,
generalised aches and pains: chest pain, migraine.
So it varies from people to people. It's like when you stretch a handkerchief:
it may tear at a certain place but if you pick up another handkerchief and stretch it, it might tear
at a different place. So depending upon where the weak spots are,
individuals will manifest stress in that way.
So it's very important to acknowledge that the symptom that you're experiencing is related to stress,
because something can be done about it
and normally stress is defined as the gap between the demands placed on you
and your ability to cope with them
so that gap is described as stress.
So there are number of different ways in which you can deal with stress.
Either you reduce your demands (demands that are placed on you)
or you learn how to increase your coping strategies so that this gap is narrowed
and that's how you can manage stress.
The best way to manage stress is to prevent it from happening, or become immune to it.
So if you are in a stressful situation and if you have learned how to be immune to stress,
you will not feel stress at all and you will be able to respond to the situation appropriately.
It's very much like tiredness, you know.
What do you do to manage or prevent tiredness?
You stop the action that causes tiredness
and your body knows how to undo stress or tiredness.
In the same way, you need to find out what causes the stress.
It is not the actual activity that causes stress.
It's our emotional reaction - how we react to different situations - that causes stress.
So if we are able to control our emotions in a given situation,
then we will find that the situation| will not be stressful to us at all.
So I would say the best way to manage stress is to prevent it
and we must understand how we can prevent it.
There is a consciousness deep inside us that doesn't get stressed.
So if we have learned how to connect with that inner consciousness that is equanimous, neutral, undisturbed
then we will not be stressed in a given situation,
but if we haven't learned how to connect to that deeper consciousness,
then the mind keeps reacting to all the situation that we confront
and we will end up feeling stressed.
If it is just a technique, it won't work or it won't work well,
but if it is a way of being, then it does work.
But somebody might argue that you can use a technique to access that way of being,
then yes, definitely the techniques will work.
And there are different techniques that can be used to feel relaxed
and you will find that the common factor there is how to silence the mind.
When I use the word "mind", I mean the thinking, judging, feeling and reacting part of the mind.
Whether we use progressive muscle relaxation, whether we use guided imagery,
whether we use breath regulation techniques, whatever,
you will find that the end result is that
the intellect, the judging, thinking, feeling, reacting part of the mind is silenced
and that individual is led into a state where he or she gets connected with the inner consciousness.
Some people call it soul, some people call it inner consciousness
and/or some call it just equanimous consciousness and that helps.
Now, stress is a term that mental-health professionals don't like using, because it doesn't convey anything,
and it can't be helpful in treating the patient.
So there are some diagnoses with this name: acute stress reaction or post-traumatic stress disorder,
but we use these diagnoses of stress disorders when the person cannot be neatly fitted into other disorders
like anxiety, depression, anger, bipolar, schizophrenia whatever it is.
Stress is a term borrowed from physics
and it was initially used to measure the strength of metal
whether it can resist the pressures
and if I were to translate it into psychological terms,
then stress is the ability to deal with a certain situation
and if the demands are too many and coping resources are less, then the person experiences stress.
So it's an overarching term that includes everything:
anxiety, depression, fears, anger, everything,
whereas anxiety is very specific emotion which deals with fear in relation to a given situation,
in relation to a potentially threatening situation that can happen to a given individual.
So basically, it's the use of different terminology, but some people use stress to mean general anxiety.
The other use of stress is in relation to physical health.
Now, some people experience stress in the form of chest pain, breathing difficulties,
hyperventilation, irritable bowel syndrome, but it's not anxiety.
So the stress has manifested in a physical form rather than the anxiety.
Now, cognitive behavioural therapy is based on the assumption that it is the thoughts that are primary
and emotions are secondary.
So if you really want to control the emotions, you'll need to control the thoughts.
Because it's very difficult to produce or create emotions on their own.
Emotions always follow thoughts.
Or, if you are in a given situation that is stressful, then emotions can occur.
If you really want to control your emotions or symptoms,
then either you control your thoughts, or you control the external circumstance in your situation.
Most people resort to the second option.
They try to control the external situation and want to change the environment around them,
but people who are introspective, reflective, they understand the deeper reaches of the mind,
they know that controlling their thoughts is a better way of dealing with stress
than trying to control the external circumstances.
So people have found that cognitive behavioural therapy is more effective than other forms of therapy
and here the cognitive therapy has merged with the behavioural therapy.
That's a marriage between behavioural therapy and cognitive therapy.
Now, why has this marriage took place?
It's because cognitive therapy was little stronger on the theoretical side,
but too weaker on the therapy side; and behavioural therapy was stronger on the therapy side and
weaker on the theoretical side. So they kind of merged together.
And the behavioural therapy says that the behaviour is primary.
So you can execute a behaviour and in trying to execute the behaviour,
you will overcome certain thoughts and emotions and then you can overcome them.
So it works very well and the research evidence suggests that cognitive behavioural therapy
is one of the most effective therapy techniques.