TREATMENT OF STRESS BREAKDOWN: STRESS WE CANNOT AVOID
We come now to the people who are suffering from stage one stress breakdown symptoms as a result of stress that they cannot possibly avoid. In this category I place the people whose occupations require them to accept long periods of stress when they may also be short of sleep and malnourished. Soldiers come into this category; so do the families caring for severely handicapped relatives and some mothers of newborn babies, if they are denied help from others. My advice to people suffering from stress-breakdown symptoms from unavoidable stress is:
• Are you really sure you can’t get any help at all? Are you really a coper who thinks it is a sign of weakness to ask for help?
• If you cannot avoid stress symptoms, at least don’t mistake them for symptoms of illness, and don’t make any wrong assumptions about the origins of your symptoms. For example, if you are bursting into tears at the thought of having to psych yourself up to do the shopping on your own, don’t load yourself up with guilt for being lazy.
• If you can’t avoid the big problems, at least get rid of as many of your other little problems as you can. It’s like jettisoning extra baggage to lighten the load if the ship is in danger of sinking. So if you can’t look after your sick baby and the other children as well, and keep the house clean, let as many non-essentials go as you can.
• Get as much sleep as possible, even if it’s just ‘forty winks’ now and then during the day. Don’t skip meals, and don’t do anything like deciding now is the time to go on a crash diet to lose weight. Don’t drink alcohol or ask the doctor for sedative drugs. Cut down on your tea and coffee intake.
• Decide to take a holiday when the stress is over, and do it. The holiday might be going to bed for a few days, or going away to recuperate and be pampered.
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