| Emotional Symptoms of Stress |
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Emotions are only found in warm-blooded animals. The evolution of emotional behavior goes hand in hand with the phylogenetic development of the mammalian nervous system and reaches its greatest complexity at the human level. The brain system responsible for our emotions, the limbic system, is buried deep in our brain and is interconnected with all its other parts and systems, including the more "intelligent" parts and systems. The activity of our limbic system provides emotional color, excitement, vitality, and meaning to our thoughts, words, and behaviors. Emotions are a vital part of human existence. They give meaning to life. While some emotional experiences are pleasant and we seek them, sometimes avidly, others are unpleasant, so we try to avoid feelings such as irritation, anger, apprehension, fear, sadness, grief, guilt, etc. We forget they are necessary elements of a well-rounded emotional life. Everyone experiences them at one time or another. Avoiding unpleasant feelings doesn't make them go away - you only become more vulnerable to them and give them time for incubation and growth. Dealing directly with unpleasant feelings, while painful, makes you stronger and rids you of them. When your level of physiological arousal reaches your danger zone in frequently recurring episodes of stress, you're likelier to experience anger, anxiety, and/or depression as symptoms. People who see stress as solely an emotional phenomenon often confuse it with anxiety. As we have shown, stress involves both mind and the body. Anxiety is just one of many possible symptoms of stress. There are, in fact, three emotional symptoms of stress: anxiety, anger and depression. These stress emotions are sometimes difficult to separate, often becoming so entangled that you don't know what you're feeling, except that you're "upset." When emotions intensify, they feed on one another and can become so powerful they overwhelm you, bringing on fears of losing self-control and "going crazy." One client described herself as a "bubbling cauldron of emotions about to boil over. Sometimes I'm angry, sometimes I'm depressed, and sometimes I'm just scared, but most of the time it's all of the above. I'm frightened I'll lose it and really make a mess of my life." One way to get control over your emotions is to sort them out by labeling them, but it's not easy. Emotions are hard to describe because developmentally they precede language. Children express emotions long before they learn to speak. It requires more than being articulate to label emotions effectively. People, particularly men, who have grown up in families who do not talk about emotions have difficulty labeling their feelings. Some families only allow expression of one or two feelings. For instance, a family with an anxious parent may talk frequently about anxiety and fear, but seldom about anger. Other families are comfortable with love but not anger, or vice versa. You have much more control over your emotional state than you probably realize. What and how you think determines in large part what and how you feel; what and how you feel colors what and how you think. Getting control of your thoughts changes the way you feel, and getting control of your feelings alters the way you think. The techniques we describe here help you manage this complex equation. You can use some of these techniques by yourself, but you may need help with others. Since many techniques involve relaxation, they tend to lower your metabolic rate and general level of physiological arousal. They may interact with any prescription medications you are taking for a seizure, cardiovascular, diabetic, or endocrine disorder. Be sure to check with your physician before using them. Emotional Release Next, experiment with thoughts that increase the intensity of the emotion you're feeling. Then try thoughts that will reduce that intensity. Rate the intensity level of your emotions on a one-to-ten scale. Learn to raise and lower your level with your thoughts. Learning to release emotions is the third step. This can happen in a number of ways, such as acting them out, talking them out, or thinking them out. Shouting, crying, or being fearful takes the edge off your feelings, allowing you to think more clearly. You can talk about how you feel with a friend, family member, or counselor. Sometimes, images and thoughts can release you from emotions. Click on other stress symptoms you may have experienced to learn more about what you can do about them as well. Neuromuscular |
Recurrent episodes of acute stress can seriously affect the way you think and feel. Episodic acute stress can lead to difficulties in thinking, making decisions, judgment, and memory. Just when you really need your wits about you, stress steals them away. As a consequence, you don't think your way out of stressful situations very effectively, and, worse yet, poor decision making can lead to even more stress. Emotions are also triggered by episodic acute stress. At the very time you're too stressed to think straight, you get hit with some combination of anger, anxiety, and depression. These emotional symptoms can range from mild to severe and may require professional help.