We will explore the types of stress management techniques. As humans live their lives, they may unconsciously become angry, anxious, or depressed, and thus experience stress. When stressed, it can be difficult to maintain your usual pace, and tasks you normally excel at may become prone to failure. Understanding the types of stress management techniques can help you maintain your mental health.
1. Why do we need to manage stress?
Before looking at the types of stress management techniques, let’s understand what stress is and why it is necessary to manage it.
1) Definition of Stress
Stress is the physical, mental, and emotional response when exposed to situations that are difficult to adapt to.
The stress response is also called the fight-or-flight syndrome, and from an evolutionary perspective, it is the state in which humans perceive a threat to their survival.
When in a stress response state, the body shakes and becomes tense unknowingly because it is a situation that threatens survival, changing the system to better fight or flee, thus increasing the heart rate.
In addition to an increased heart rate, you might experience faster breathing, pupil dilation, muscle contraction, and reduced digestive system function.
Experiencing such physiological phenomena can make a person feel significantly anxious or angry, and it is necessary to train coping mechanisms to maintain composure.
2) The Necessity of Stress Management
You might have often heard that stress management is essential for humans. What happens if stress is not managed?
When humans are stressed, the fight-or-flight syndrome occurs, and our body becomes in an emergency state. It’s the same principle as soldiers quickly moving to block enemies in wartime.
The problem is that if such a situation repeats or lasts long, it can lead to illnesses due to the extensive use of bodily resources, similar to how continual warfare can endanger the state system or make survival difficult.
Therefore, if you want to live healthily, it is crucial to know and practice the types of stress management techniques. Think of stress management techniques as ways for soldiers to create peace without waging war.
2. Types of Stress Management Techniques
Let’s look at the types of stress management techniques. The stress management techniques presented in this article include awareness, relaxation, meditation, communication, problem-solving, pets, and music, totaling seven categories.
1) Awareness (Mindfulness)
If we assume stress as an enemy, the first step is knowing what form this enemy takes. Awareness should be the first method to try among the types of stress management techniques.
For this reason, it is important to identify what causes stress and what responses (emotional, behavioral, physiological) it triggers.
If an individual can recognize their stressors, they can remove, avoid, or accept the cause of their stress.
2) Relaxation
Humans can experience relaxation in various ways. Some people relax through active exercise, breathing techniques, or progressive muscle relaxation.
Scientifically handled relaxation techniques include diaphragmatic breathing, muscle relaxation, memory relaxation, biofeedback, and autogenic training.
3) Meditation
Research has shown that meditating once or twice a day for 20 minutes can reduce blood pressure and decrease symptoms related to stress.
Personally, I believe meditation is one of the most important skills among the types of stress management techniques.
Recently, mindfulness meditation has been widely used as a method to reduce anxiety and maintain equanimity.
Meditation involves taking a comfortable position, closing your eyes, and focusing on the present moment while letting go of all thoughts.
4) Interpersonal Communication
In stress management, simply discussing your problems with someone who empathizes with you can prevent the exacerbation of stress responses.
Writing or keeping a diary to express your emotions in writing can also help manage stress.
5) Problem Solving
Problem solving is a skill that can be applied when an individual is able to view a situation objectively, and should follow the steps below:
– Evaluate the actual facts about the situation
– Set goals to resolve the stress situation
– Explore alternatives for coping with the situation
– Identify the pros and cons of each alternative
– Select an alternative
– Apply the chosen alternative
– Evaluate the outcome of the applied alternative
– If the first alternative is ineffective, select and apply a second alternative
6) Pets
Studies suggest that people, especially those who own dogs or cats, cope better with life’s stresses.
The physical act of petting and stroking a dog or cat can be therapeutic, providing care for the animal and feelings of warmth and affection for the person, and creating a mutual dependency with a trustworthy living being.
Many studies report that people living with dogs have improved heart health, allergies, anxiety, and mental illnesses like depression.
7) Music
Research indicates that listening to music has positive effects such as pain relief, motivation and achievement enhancement, sleep improvement, vascular function enhancement, stress reduction, alleviation of depressive symptoms, cognitive function improvement, and enhanced recovery in stroke patients.
3. Recommended Stress Management Techniques
We’ve explored seven types of stress management techniques. Now, let’s see how these techniques can be directly applied in stressful situations.
1) Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, developed by Aaron T. Beck in the 1960s, was created during the process of scientifically verifying psychoanalytic therapy.
Techniques such as awareness and problem-solving, which were mentioned in the types of stress management, can be learned through CBT. It particularly allows us to analyze the process in which our stress responses occur.
For those experiencing significant stress, it is recommended to study the cognitive model in CBT and practice techniques such as thought recording.
Personally, I think CBT is an essential skill to learn among the types of stress management techniques.
2) Mindfulness Meditation
As mentioned in the types of stress management, mindfulness meditation is a highly effective method for managing stress once the concept is understood.
Mindfulness meditation became widely known when Jon Kabat-Zinn developed the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 1979.
Mindfulness meditation trains abilities such as awareness, non-judgment, letting go, and focusing on the present.
Meditation is a highly recommended method among the types of stress management techniques.
3) Relaxation Techniques
Relaxation techniques are methods to relax the body through various skills. Unknowingly, humans can become anxious through physical responses that generate various thoughts and emotions.
Learning relaxation techniques (such as diaphragmatic breathing, muscle relaxation, memory relaxation, autogenic training) and applying them in stressful situations can reduce their intensity.
The author, too, has experienced various stresses from a young age, feeling that people and the world have made life difficult. However, through studying various psychological methods for mental health, I realized the importance of one’s own thoughts.
To everyone reading this article, I highly recommend trying the four skill trainings of mindfulness meditation and understanding the cognitive model concept from cognitive behavioral therapy. Understanding these two concepts will help you know why you are struggling and how to cope with difficulties!
4. Conclusion and Q&A
We have explored the types of stress management techniques and the methods that can be directly applied for effective stress management.
Stress management is essential for health. Below, let’s look at some frequently asked questions and key points.
1) Why do humans experience stress?
Humans experience stress when they face situations that are difficult to adapt to or that threaten their survival. Unknowingly, they feel danger and initiate a stress response known as the fight-or-flight syndrome.
Ultimately, stress can be defined as the situations in which humans themselves feel difficult and challenging, and evolutionarily, the body activates its emergency system in response.
2) What are the types of stress management techniques?
The types of stress management techniques, as mentioned in the article, include awareness, relaxation, meditation, communication, problem-solving, pets, and music. Personally, I recommend cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness meditation.
► References and Further Reading
– [Book] Psychiatric Nursing 9th edition, Stress Management Part – Co-authored by Mary C. Townsend and Karyn I. Morgan / Hakjisa Medical Publishing
– [Book] What Can and Cannot Be Changed – Dr. Young-hee Choi / MetaMedia Publishing
– Be the Titan Brain
