Causes of Stress

Stress is a part of every day life, with understanding of what causes us to feel stress in our lives, we can learn to minimize the effects and gain back control. Take a look at the following causes and give careful, thoughtful consideration to what is going on in your life right now. Also, please take the time to write down what is causing you stress within your life. When we are aware of what causes our stress we are better able to plan for it and manage it.

This comes from the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Group I attended. I take no credit for the information I share here. Please also understand this information is being provided for informational purposes only, and I would strongly encourage you to speak with your doctor or health care professional if you have any questions about what you read here. I hope you will find the following information is beneficial.

Understanding "stress" and its effect

As you may know there are positive stressors that can, for example, help motivates us into a positive action and there are also negative stressors that can impact us on many levels and interfere with our daily functioning.

"Stress" can be defined as a strain felt by a person: mentally, emotionally, and/or physically.

We are going to review common causes of stress.

Causes of Stress

External:

• physical or environmental stressors - usually to your sense of safety and/or comfort level (i.e. loud crowds, confined spaces)
  
• social stressors - interaction with others, especially unpleasant individuals
  
• institutional stressors - rules, regulations, deadlines etc.
  
• major life events - new relationships, marriage, divorce, children born, death, moving, promotion, change in jobs etc.
  
• daily hassles - small or repeated annoyances in everyday living (house or maintenance work, too much to do,driving in rush hour traffic, parking, heath issues etc)
  

Internal

Lifestyle choices

• health habits - caffeine, insufficient sleep, poor nutrition, tobacco, drugs
  
• overloaded schedule, insufficient leisure or poor work-life balance
  
• long work hours, shift work, long commuting/travel
  
• financial over-extension
  
• social isolation or over involvement
  

Negative Self-Talk

• critical, judgmental, insulting or blaming thoughts, put-downs
  
• bossiness ("you should have done...: and "you must do...")
  
• destructive emotions; guilt, worry, regret, resentment, self-pity, jealousy
  
• negative filters; pessimism, cynicism, defeatism, skepticism, suspicion
  
• undermining or self-defeating comparison
  
• ruminating, wallowing, over-analyzing and second guessing
  

Interpretation of Events

• perceiving something as a danger or threat
  
• feeling a lack of control 
  
• judging something to be a problem
  
• jumping to conclusions about other people's motives
  
• feeling "not good" about yourself
  

"Mind Traps"

• unrealistic expectations
  
• over-identifying with rules, job, title possessions, etc
  
• taking things personally
  
• taking on other people's problems as your own
  
• exaggerating or generalizing
  
• rigidity
  
• all or nothing thinking
  

Belief Systems

• outdated beliefs
  
• inaccurate beliefs
  
• self-limiting beliefs
  
• negative beliefs
  
• rigid beliefs
  

Stress-prone Personality Types

• workaholics
  
• overachievers
  
• "Type A" personalities
  
• perfectionists
  
• pleasers
  
• caretakers
  
• victims