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Maybe it’s your demanding boss, morning gridlock, or relationship problems with a friend or family member. Whatever the cause, it’s likely you experience some level of stress on a daily basis.

FREE
This course includes
Hours of videos

3 hours

Units & Quizzes

13

Unlimited Lifetime access
Access on mobile app
Certificate of Completion
Stress is your body’s way of responding to any kind of demand or threat. When you sense danger—whether it’s real or imagined—the body’s defenses kick into high gear in a rapid, automatic process known as the “fight-or-flight” reaction or the “stress response.” The stress response is the body’s way of protecting you. When working properly, it helps you stay focused, energetic, and alert. In emergency situations, stress can save your life—giving you extra strength to defend yourself, for example, or spurring you to slam on the brakes to avoid a car accident. Stress can also help you rise to meet challenges. It’s what keeps you on your toes during a presentation at work, sharpens your concentration when you’re attempting the game-winning free throw, or drives you to study for an exam when you’d rather be watching TV. But beyond a certain point, stress stops being helpful and starts causing major damage to your health, mood, productivity, relationships, and your quality of life.
But while some day-to-day stress is normal (and can even be a good thing if it motivates you), chronic, overwhelming stress can have a negative impact on your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. Knowing how to spot the signs and symptoms that you’re under too much stress can help you stay aware and address the issues before they harm your health.
Physical Signs
You might be overly stressed without even knowing it. Maybe you have certain physical symptoms and blame it on an illness or other condition. But the truth is, stress itself can cause problems in your organs, tissues, and just about every system in your body. Depending on how you handle stress, you might have symptoms that affect everything from your hormones to your heart, and more.

Causes of Emotional Stress

Relationship stress carries a heavy toll on our emotional lives and creates strong emotional responses because our relationships can greatly impact our lives — for better or for worse. Healthy relationships can bring good times, but also resources in times of need, added resilience in times of stress, and even increased longevity. However, conflicted relationships and 'frenemies' can make us worse off in our emotional lives, and can even take a toll physically.
Relationships aren't the only cause of emotional stress, however. Financial crises, an unpleasant work environment, or a host of other stressors can cause emotional stress, which sometimes tempts us toward unhealthy coping behaviors in order to escape the pain, especially when the situations seem hopeless. Perhaps one of the more challenging aspects of coping with emotional stress is the feeling of being unable to change the situation. If we can't change our stress levels by eliminating the stressful situation, we can work on our emotional response to it.

Course Currilcum

    • The Stress Emotions 00:25:00
    • The Anatomy of Anger 00:20:00
    • Gender Differences 00:10:00
    • Correcting the Myth of Catharsis 00:10:00
    • Four Mismanaged Anger Styles 00:10:00
    • The Somatizer 00:10:00
    • The Self-Punisher 00:10:00
    • The Exploder 00:10:00
    • The Underhanded 00:10:00
    • Creative Anger Strategies 00:20:00
    • The Anatomy of Fear 00:20:00
    • Strategies to Overcome Fear 00:10:00
    • Depression 00:15:00