Stress

But when stress becomes chronic, overwhelming, or unrelenting, it begins to affect both mind and body.

If you’re finding it hard to switch off, constantly feel tense, or notice stress interfering with sleep, relationships, or health, it may be time to seek support.

Therapy can help you understand your stress responses, regain balance, and build healthier coping strategies.

What is Stress?

Stress occurs when perceived demands outweigh available resources. It activates the body’s “fight-or-flight” response, increasing heart rate and alertness.

While this is useful short term, ongoing activation places strain on both the nervous system and physical health.

Stress can develop from work pressures, caring responsibilities, financial concerns, health problems, or major life changes.

Symptoms of Stress

• Racing thoughts, restlessness, irritability

• Difficulty concentrating or making decisions

• Sleep disturbance, fatigue, or low energy

• Muscle tension, headaches, or stomach upset

• Feeling overwhelmed, snappy, or withdrawn

• Reliance on unhealthy coping strategies (alcohol, overwork, avoidance)

Types of Stress

• Acute Stress: short-term reaction to a specific challenge or event

• Chronic Stress: long-term activation that can harm health and wellbeing

• Work-related Stress: pressures from workload, deadlines, or workplace culture

• Life Stress: ongoing strain from relationships, health issues, or financial pressures

Causes and Risk Factors

Stress is influenced by personality, coping style, and support networks. Perfectionism, high responsibility roles, and lack of boundaries often increase vulnerability.

Traumatic or adverse experiences may also prime the nervous system to react more strongly to stress.

How Therapy Can Help with Stress

Therapy offers space to step back and reframe how you respond to stress. The first step is often creating space to pause and reflect on what is fuelling your stress.

Together, you and your psychologist can begin to untangle patterns of thinking and behaviour that keep the pressure building.

For some people, this involves using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to challenge unhelpful beliefs such as perfectionism or fear of letting others down.

For others, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy may be more useful, helping you focus on what matters most while learning to let go of the struggle against things you cannot control.

When stress is driven by harsh self-criticism, compassion-focused approaches can support you to build a kinder and more sustainable relationship with yourself.

Mindfulness-based strategies can also be introduced to calm the nervous system, improve sleep, and bring awareness back to the present.

Alongside these therapeutic approaches, therapy provides a safe place to explore your lifestyle, boundaries, and identity, ensuring that changes are not just short-term fixes but steps towards long-term resilience.