If stress, anxiety or depression are spoiling your life then I know how you feel. It's like being trapped in a choking fog, feeling like you're disconnected from reality and you just can't see a way out of the fog. You feel lost, helpless, absolutely exhausted and my goodness me, it feels like you've been hit by a 10 tonne juggernaut. It's exactly how I felt for 5 unhappy years. It is absolutely harrowing and the longer you suffer like this, the harder and harder it gets to see light at the end of the tunnel. It becomes so hard to function even the most basic tasks are just too much effort and as for getting restful, rejuvenating sleep - forget it. And it doesn't matter how much you sleep, the exhaustion just won't go away. You'll hear many times that single events can trigger a major episode of stress, depression and anxiety. The key word is "trigger", because that is all a single event is. It doesn't actually CAUSE stress, depression or anxiety but it does trigger a sequence of behaviors that lead to mental trauma. Let's look at how this happens and then you'll find a key skill to show you how to deal with stress, anxiety and depression so events don't trigger them. Descent into a stressful, depressive or anxious episode happens because of negative and catastrophic reactions to events you are confronted with. One event by itself simply isn't enough. There are many chain-reactions that take place before a person becomes highly stressed or depressed or anxious, but I'm going to discuss one of the biggest ones: using one event to ascribe catastrophic meanings to all areas of your life - I call it "generalizing".
- posted
17 years ago
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