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What Do Your Symptoms Mean?

by healthpsych

If you are an energetic person who likes to succeed, who likes to
get things done yesterday, you might find it extremely helpful to
slow down your pace when learning stress management techniques.
Here's why:

Enthusiasm may push you to take on many techniques at once and
do them for too long. You run a high risk of burning out and
losing interest if you try to do too much too fast. Furthermore,
you are likely to feel guilty for coming up with excuses to avoid
exercising at all.

You may feel confused when you begin to experience more energy
as a result of doing relaxation and stress management exercises.
Resist the temptation to pour this extra energy back into your
work. Rather, use it for further rest and enjoyment.

Sometimes, symptoms of stress persist in spite of regular
relaxation and stress reduction. If you are a conscientious
person, and have been practicing regularly, this is
disheartening. The following are just a few of the most common
reasons why this might be happening to you.

Some people are highly suggestible and begin to experience every
symptom that they hear about. For example, one very tense
policeman joined a relaxation group to overcome his tendency to
hyperventilate after periods of high stress. He found himself
experiencing all of the physical symptoms described by other
group members: migraines, lower back pain, rapid heartbeat, and
so forth. These tendencies may be combated by combining
thought-stopping or coping statements with progress muscle
relaxation.

A surprising number of people are attached to their symptoms,
which serve a very definite purpose. For example, your headaches
may get you out of interpersonal situations you want to avoid,
without having to take responsibility for disappointing others.
You can discover whether your symptom rescue you from more
unpleasant experiences by keeping a log of when you get your
symptoms and the activities (or would-be activities) that
surround them. If you suspect that your symptoms provide you
"secondary gain" in this manner, you may want to consider getting
assertiveness training. It should provide you with the incentive
and the tools to be more direct in saying no.

Your symptoms of tension may be a signal that you are not
dealing effectively with something in your life and that you are
covering up your feelings. For example, you may be angry with
your family but not sharing this fact with them. You might be
putting off talking about a particular conflict because you don't
see any way of improving matters. A nurse was visited every other
weekend by a very spoiled stepdaughter. She had agreed to the
arrangement when she married and now felt trapped by it. Within
three years, the visits invariably produced a migraine headache.
To counteract this symptom, she finally negotiated a new contract
with her husband to spend visiting days on her own doing what she
liked, while he "babysat."

The people around you are apt to be aware that you are
withholding stressful feelings and that something is wrong.
Nevertheless, they can't read your mind and are unlikely to come
to your rescue. You know best what it is you need. Letting others
know your feelings and what you want opens the way to engaging
them in helping you make a change.

Your symptoms may be a way of getting taken care of when you
feel that you can't directly ask for help or consideration. If
you feel tired and have a backache, someone else may have to do
the cooking and cleaning and keeping the house quiet. Ask
yourself when your symptoms first began. What was going on in
your life that might have contributed to them?  One elderly woman
who had suffered from periodic colitis since childhood recalled
that her abdominal cramps began when her younger twin brothers
were born. She remembered that the only time her busy mother ever
held her and rocked her was when she had the symptoms. She noted
that she tended to get colitis only when her husband left her
alone in the evenings.

It is possible that you have developed the symptoms of an
important person in your life as part of your identification with
them. For example, you may not only have learned to be
hard-working and successful from your father, but also to deal
with stress in a similar manner. Carrying your tension in your
stomach, you may come to the point of getting an ulcer just like
your father. Since characteristic ways of responding to stress
are generally learned, ask yourself who in your family shares
your same symptoms. It's often easier to learn how they are not
dealing effectively with the stress in their lives than to see it
in yourself. The next step is to observe and see if the same is
true for you.

If you continue to have difficulty reducing stress in your life,
consider consulting a professional. You may be interested in
stress management groups that are becoming more commonly
available. Your medical doctor or health plan is a good place to
start.

I have been helping people reach their personal and professional
goals for the past 14 years.  There's nothing more satisfying
than helping someone reach their potential for success.  I would
like the opportunity to help you reach your goals.  I am a
Professional Coach with a Ph.D. in Psychology and a specialty in
Goal Achievement and Transitions.  Check out my website: <a
href="http://www.ParamountTransitions.com">www.ParamountTransitions.com</a>
then call me for a free consultation.

Syndicated by Top Gazebos - www.topgazebos.net

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