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How can you positively manage the stress caused by loss?

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Taking care of yourself as you grieve is essential to managing your stress levels.

Taking care of yourself is an important part of managing your stress levels. This can include taking time to do things you enjoy, spending time with family and friends, eating well, sleeping as much as possible, and engaging in activities that help you relax. Setting aside some “me-time” to do a hobby or take a walk can be very helpful. You may also want to consider getting professional help if the emotional pain is too much for you.

While it’s natural to want your loved one back in their life after they pass away—especially if they were taken from you prematurely—remembering them is an important part of healing and moving forward with your life post-loss. You might find comfort in writing about memories or by keeping photos around that remind you of them.

In this blog, I will take you through some steps that can help you manage the stress caused by loss.

Stress 1

Take time off from work if you can.

Taking time off from work for the first few days after losing a loved one can be important. You are likely to need the rest, and your colleagues may benefit from having you around less.

Take advantage of self-care practices like breathing exercises, meditation, or yoga that help reduce stress levels. If it feels like too much effort to do these things alone, seek out support from friends and family who can help you feel safe as you move through this difficult time.

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Avoid making major life decisions in the immediate aftermath of a loss.

It’s natural to feel a rush of adrenaline after a loss. You might be tempted to make major life decisions in the immediate aftermath of a loss, but it’s best to avoid making hasty choices during this time. Try and avoid making impulsive decisions that could have long-term consequences (like quitting your job), and seek advice from others first.

It’s not uncommon for people dealing with grief to feel pressured by others’ expectations about how they should act and feel. A good way to get perspective on how you’re handling your loss is by asking yourself what people close to you might say if they were asked about how they would advise you now.

For example: “What would my loved ones suggest I do?” If someone close said “stay at home today” or “go see your friends,” then those are good options for managing stress after losing someone important in your life. If no one has any advice or suggestions, look back at previous times when similar situations occurred—what did they do then?

Grieving takes time, so don't rush it.

Grief is a normal process, but it’s not always easy to deal with. You may feel like you have to tough it out and just keep going, but that isn’t the best course of action. It’s important to give yourself time and space to grieve. Whether, this means taking a break from work or social outings or talking about your loss with a friend or family member.

When people are grieving for someone close who has died, they often experience symptoms like sadness (and crying), anger (feelings of frustration), guilt (feeling bad about something related to their loved one) or anxiety (feeling nervous). These feelings are very normal in the aftermath of loss; however, if these emotions seem overwhelming at any point then seeking professional help may be necessary.

Stress 2

There's no need to push yourself to move forward with your life until you're ready.

Moving forward in the wake of loss is often an ongoing process. You may be ready to move on at one point, but find yourself feeling stuck in your mourning at another time. There’s no need to push yourself to move forward with your life until you’re ready—in fact, it’s better to not do so until you feel ready.

If someone has recently lost someone close in their lives, they may need help moving forward with their lives. A good first step would be recognizing when they are ready and helping them figure out how best move forward from where they are today.

Everyone handles grief differently.

It is important to remember that everyone handles grief differently. It’s a process, and there are various stages of grief that you may or may not go through. Some people will experience intense emotions at first. Some become numb over time. Others may experience an emotional rollercoaster lasting several years.

The five stages of grief include: denial/isolation; anger; bargaining; depression; acceptance/hope (or whatever stage you might identify with). These can happen in any order or at the same time—and they certainly don’t have to happen in any particular order.

As much as we’d like there to be some sort of standard timeline for dealing with loss and pain, it simply isn’t possible for every person who experiences loss because each individual has different needs—and what works for one could make another feel worse instead!

One thing I want all my fellow grieving friends out there know is this: You do not need permission from anyone else before feeling what you’re feeling right now–but it helps if we acknowledge this together as a community so everyone knows they’re not alone on their journey through grief.

Be aware when dealing with unexpected stress.

If you are experiencing unexpected stress, it is important to seek help. Dealing with loss can cause a relapse of mental health issues, so be aware that this is possible and seek help when needed.

If you are not sure where to go for help, start by calling your doctor or therapist. They can make recommendations and point you in the right direction, if they do not have time to see you themselves.

Grieving is a normal part of working through stress caused by unexpected or major loss.

Grieving is a normal part of working through stress caused by unexpected or major loss. While each grieving process is unique, there are certain stages that people tend to experience when they are grieving. It’s important to remember that everyone’s journey through grief is different. Only you can decide when you’re ready to move on from the pain of your loss.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by these emotions, remember: You are not alone! While it may seem like no one else could possibly understand what it feels like right now, many other people have been in similar situations before—so don’t hesitate asking for help if needed!

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What are the 7 stages of grief

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Grief is a set of emotions including a person’s or a situation’s perceived loss, as well as any incident that alters a person’s physical, emotional, or spiritual reaction to the world around them. Other than death, we can grieve for a variety of causes. When we lose a job, a relationship, an opportunity, our health, our safety or security, our independence, our hope for the future, and many other things, we can grieve. In this blog, I will discuss 7 stages of grief that normally people pass through.

grief 1

Shock

Shock (or emotional numbness) is the first stage of grief that follows a loss. The experience of shock can last from a few minutes to a few weeks or months. Shock is a defence mechanism that affects the mind and body, preventing you from processing all your feelings at once so you can recover. Shock acts as an emotional buffer to protect you from the reality of loss until you’re ready to deal with it.

Symptoms include:

Denial

Denial is the first stage of grief and it’s a type of protection for your mind. It allows you to escape from the painful reality of what has happened so that you can begin to cope. Even if it feels like denial can last forever, eventually it’s important to move on from this stage of grief.

Let yourself feel anything and everything, but know when you need help.

Denial

Bargaining

Bargaining is the attempt to make a deal with a higher power that would improve your situation. For example, if you were to lose a loved one, you may bargain with God or Allah by promising to attend church every week, if only he or she could be brought back from the dead.

Regardless of whom bargaining is made with, it’s an attempt to postpone grief and delay accepting the loss. Many people believe that “if only” they had done something different, such as providing better care for a loved one who died of cancer, then the person wouldn’t have died.

Although grief can be overwhelming at times and cause people to feel out of control or helpless at the moment, eventually they move past this stage and accept reality.

Guilt

Guilt is a normal response to any type of loss.

The guilt you are experiencing may or may not be healthy. People often feel guilty for things that are out of their control, such as the death of someone else. It can also be very easy to blame yourself for things that were completely out of your control. While this guilt can be upsetting in the short term, it generally resolves itself with time and distance from the situation.

If your guilt is more related to how you handled a situation, it will likely resolve itself as well if you have done everything in your power to help remedy it. For example, if you are experiencing guilt about something you did or didn’t say in an argument with a loved one before they died, make sure that you’ve apologized or tried to explain yourself first. You may not get the peace that comes with closure right away but over time these feelings will likely subside.

Anger

The next stage of grief is anger. This is another normal reaction to losing a loved one. Anger may be directed at yourself, the situation or the person who has died. It can also be directed at friends and family members, medical personnel or even those uninvolved. Perhaps anger is directed toward God. You may feel that you are asking “why me?”

It’s important not to rush this stage of grief and make decisions you will regret later (like quitting your job). You also shouldn’t avoid dealing with your feelings of anger as this can cause it to build up inside later on in life and manifest itself in other ways such as depression or anxiety disorders.

Anger

Depression

A person in this stage will, unfortunately, be very unhappy, and will often find it difficult to go about their day-to-day life. They might feel like they want to give up, or that there is no use in trying. Depression may appear to be an unavoidable outcome of any loss. However, if you feel stuck or unable to go past this stage of mourning, seek help from a mental health professional. A therapist can assist you in getting through this difficult time.

Depression

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Acceptance

Acceptance is the final stage of grief. A common misconception about acceptance is that it means that everything is okay and that you are happy with what has happened. This isn’t true. Acceptance does not mean happiness; it means an understanding of the situation and an ability to move forward, even if it’s only a little bit at a time. It’s not necessarily “feeling better” or have gone back to your old self; it’s simply coming to terms with what has happened, being able to talk about it without breaking down or needing support, and starting to live in the present again. You may begin looking toward your future instead of constantly focusing on your loss.

There are seven stages of grief and it is important to go through the stages to have a healthy grieving process.

We will not be linearly experiencing the stages of grief, nor will we experience all stages. Additionally, some stages may last longer than others. Ultimately, it is important to remember that the grieving process is unique to each individual and there is absolutely no specific timeline for us to follow. Although there are seven general stages of grief listed below, our progression through these steps may occur more quickly or take longer than expected. It’s important to be patient with ourselves during this painful process and avoid judging our progress in comparison to others. Most importantly, if it lasts longer a visit to a therapist can ease the process.

How to Deal with PTSD Triggers?

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Triggers can be anything that causes you to have a nervous system response, and this is different from person to person.

PTSD triggers can be anything that causes you to have a nervous system response. It doesn’t matter if the event happened 1 minute ago or 20 years ago, it can be re-experienced through a trigger. A trigger can include certain sounds, smells, sights, tastes, etc. For some people, trauma is stored within each of these senses. Triggers can also be different for each person – what triggers one person could not affect another at all. A trigger may also be a memory, song, smell, or even person. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a disorder that affects certain people after they have been through a traumatic, frightening, or hazardous incident.

In this blog, I will guide you on what normally triggers PTSD, how to understand your reaction to the triggers, and various ways in which you can control or minimize your PTSD triggers.

PTSD

Know your triggers.

A good first step to figuring out how to react to triggers is figuring out what they are. Many people with PTSD experience emotional and physical reactions when they encounter a trigger, like getting startled or feeling intense anger or sadness. A trigger might be anything that reminds you of the trauma, including:

  • Sights
  • Sounds
  • Smells
  • Tastes
  • Memories or thoughts

Triggers can change over time. Some people may have triggers that bother them for years without any change, but others may find that their triggers gradually become more manageable. This can happen with treatment and exposure therapy, where a person is exposed to their triggers in controlled settings to learn healthy ways of responding to them.

Understand your reactions to triggers.

In this guide, we’ll talk about how to avoid triggers when you’re feeling them. It’s important to know what your reactions are to better understand why they happen and how to control them. The most common ones we encounter in our work with anxiety sufferers are the fight-or-flight response, the freeze response, and the fawn response. When feeling a trigger, your body immediately goes into fight or flight mode. Your heart pounds, blood pressure rises, muscles tense up (especially if someone yells at you), and your whole body feels on alert and ready for action.

One of the many things that people with PTSD struggle with is being unable to escape or pull themselves out of it before they experience a full-blown panic attack…

Make a plan for how to cope with each of your triggers.

  • Make a list of your triggers. These can be anything that makes you feel anxious, reminds you of the trauma, or causes you to have flashbacks. They might include things like loud noises, crowds, certain smells or tastes, and so on.

  • Make a list of coping strategies for each trigger. There are many ways to cope with PTSD symptoms when they come up. The important thing is to make sure that the coping strategies are healthy and safe. Some examples might include meditation, distraction strategies (counting backward from 100 or playing a game on your phone), talking with a friend or family member about it, and grounding techniques such as deep breathing and touching five things in the room around you and describing them aloud.
PTSD Cope

Have self-care, relaxation, and distraction techniques handy.

Have self-care, relaxation, and distraction techniques handy. It’s important to have some activities on hand that you can turn to when you need to help yourself cope with the intensity of a trigger and whatever feelings it is bringing up for you. This is called grounding and can help you return your attention from the flashback or upsetting memories to your current environment.

Try to taking a warm bath, listening to calming music – perhaps ones without words so that your mind can stay more focused in the present moment than it would be if catching song lyrics, journaling about anything other than what happened in the past, calling someone caring and supportive who can help take your mind off things for a little bit, doing something creative like drawing or painting, going for a walk or moving around in some way (exercise releases helpful neurotransmitters), doing something else that helps you relax but is not harmful to yourself or others.

Practice mindfulness meditation.

  • Practice mindfulness meditation. Engaging in this type of meditation provides a way to distance yourself from your experiences. Mindfulness is the practice of focusing on the present moment and accepting whatever is happening without judgment.

  • Focus on your breath. This type of breathing can be helpful during a mindfulness meditation practice or when you are having a difficult time but don’t want to meditate. Try to breathe slowly, inhaling deeply through your nose and then exhaling slowly through your mouth. If you’re feeling comfortable with this, try a more advanced breathing technique called square breathing:

    • Inhale through your nose for four seconds
    • Hold that breath in for four seconds
    • Exhale through your mouth for four seconds
    • Hold for another four seconds before beginning again
PTSD Meditation

Have emergency contact information available at all times.

Have emergency contact information available at all times. You never know when a trigger might arrive, and you need help at the moment to calm down and soothe yourself. Make it a point to always have your phone on hand, or easily accessible. If you do not have a cell phone, consider having an extra prepaid phone that you can keep with you in case of emergencies.

After reading this blog, I hope you will be able to identify your PTSD triggers and find a coping mechanism against them. Do consult a doctor to discuss your condition and get expert advice to manage your triggers.

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Should I go to therapy? A complete guide

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Getting a mental therapy or counselling is not a taboo anymore.

If you are thinking about going to therapy and are unsure if it’s right for you, I recommend getting a few different opinions. It’s always a good idea to talk with people you trust who have been through the process. Your friends and family may have heard of a great therapist (or even been to one themselves) who could help you decide on whether or not therapy is right for you.

It’s also smart to look at different therapists and compare them before making your decision. The more information that we have available when making choices in our lives, the better equipped we are as consumers! But don’t worry, this doesn’t mean that there is only one “right answer” when it comes down to choosing which therapist gets hired—it just means being prepared for everything that might come along with starting on this journey together. In this blog, I will take you to a complete guide that will help you decide whether you should go for therapy or not?

Therapy Blog 1

Getting help from a professional psychiatrist is a smart move

It often leads to reduced stress and anxiety, improved coping skills, and a better understanding of why you react to life challenges in the way you do. And you don’t need to be severely depressed, anxious, or traumatized to benefit.

Psychotherapy can lead to positive changes that can enhance your relationships, work performance, and overall well-being. If any of these apply:

  • You are unhappy with your life’s direction or want more out of it.
  • You feel like there’s something wrong but don’t know what it is (depression).
  • You have troubling thoughts or feelings (anxiety).

Therapy can be helpful for many issues, including depression, anxiety and phobias, relationship challenges, trauma, substance abuse, and eating disorders. Therapy can help you understand what triggers your reactions to life challenges. Therapy can help you develop coping skills. Therapy can help you understand why you react to life challenges the way you do.

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A therapist can help you identify the root cause of distress.

Therapists are trained professionals who provides a safe place to explore those issues that cause distress and help you adopt healthy behavior.

During therapy or counselling sessions, you may learn how to develop new coping skills, such as self-care or assertiveness training. A therapist can also help you develop a plan for overcoming your issues. For example, if your problem is an inability to make decisions on your own, your therapist may work with you to create a plan for how long it will take before making decisions on your own becomes easier for you.

A therapist can also help identify some of the factors that contribute to the problems causing distress (e.g., triggers). This can be helpful because many people are unaware of what their triggers are until they talk about them with someone else who knows about them well enough not only recognize but also name them appropriately (this is called “labeling” in psychology).

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Therapy Blog

Therapy sessions may not necessarily transform your life.

The goal of therapy isn’t always to solve a problem; sometimes it’s simply to feel understood and supported as you navigate through difficult times.

If you are struggling with any of the issues above or have other concerns related to your mental health and well-being, it can be helpful to talk with a therapist. Your therapist won’t be able to magically make all of your problems disappear overnight—but they may help you learn how to cope with them better in the long run.

Finding a therapist isn’t always easy. It’s important to feel comfortable with your therapist and confident in their experience. There are no specific guidelines for choosing a therapist, but if you are looking for expert help for certain problems — such as eating disorders or addiction — make sure the therapist has training in that area and ask about their personal experience treating related issues.

Therapy Blog 3

Here are some things you should keep in mind when finding a good fit:

  • How long has the therapist been practicing?
  • What kind of experience does he or she have treating your particular problem?
  • Is this someone who will work well with you? Do they seem like someone you’ll be able to talk to comfortably and open up to? Does he/she seem approachable and understanding? Will they be patient while listening to everything that comes out of you? What kind of personality do they have (is it compatible with yours)? Is he/she someone who can listen well without judging what comes out of your mouth once said words hit his/her ears (because sometimes we just need somebody else’s opinion without any judgment).

Therapist can help you in numerous ways such as overcoming depression, PTSD, anxiety, or mental health issues etc. They can make you feel better. Therefore, seeking help is a smart move and one should surely try it in difficult times.

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