Medical Questions » Stress Questions » Question No. 961
| Question: | How can stress, as a diagnosis made by my GP, be treated? |
| Answer: | There are four ways to treat stress:
• The obvious, most successful, but hardest to achieve, is removing the cause of the stress. If your mortgage repayments are in arrears, winning the Pools will solve your problems and remove the stress, but this is a solution for the minority, not the majority. Marriage stress is probably one of the most difficult forms of stress to remove, as bitterness and wrangling over children and property may last for many years aftef a divorce.
• The next, and most practical way to deal with stress is to rationalise it. This can involve a combination of several different techniques. Talking is an excellent way of relieving anxiety. Discuss the problem with your spouse, relatives, friends, doctor, work mates or anyone else who will listen. Problems often do not appear as insurmountable once bought into the open. Writing down the details of the problem is another excellent way of telieving anxiety. An insurmountable problem in your mind often appears more manageable on paper, particularly when all your possible options ate diagrammatically attached, to enable a rational view of the situation to be obtained.
• Professional assistance in discussing your problems is also very helpful. This may be given by your own general practitioner (who can often be a friend as well as counsellor), a psychiatrist (not because you may be insane, but because they have specialist skills in this area), a psychologist, marriage guidance counsellor, child guidance officer or social worker. Many people are relucrant to seek this type of assistance, but it is far preferable to the fourth type of treatment for stress.
• Drugs that alter your mood, sedate or relieve anxiety are very successful in dealing with stress, but should only be used in a crisis, intermittently or for short periods of time. Some antidepressant drugs and treatments for psychiatric conditions are designed for long term use, but most of the anxiety relieving drugs can cause dependency if used regularly. When prescribed and taken cottectly they act as a very useful crutch to help patients thtough a few weeks of extreme stress, and allow them to cope until such time that the cause of the sttess is removed or counselling can be started.
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