|
Coping  Develop an awareness of general and specific stressors- Look for and respond to humor
- Reward yourself for achievement
- Take responsibility for your life, your decisions, your actions
- Value, respect, and care for yourself
Health issues - Eat a balanced diet
- Avoid caffeine - increases arousal, anxiety, irritability
- Foods rich in tryptophan can help with relaxation
- Regular exercise - outdoor activities
- Adequate sleep - consistent sleep schedule
- Avoid self medication with alcohol or drugs
- Learn relaxation strategies and use them
- Keep a list of calming activities
Communications - Develop a network for social support
- Express yourself
- Ask for what you need from others
- Find a trusted friend with whom you can talk over problems and concerns
- Evaluate whether or not your expectancies of others are realistic
- Seek meaningful and rewarding social relationships
- Reduce time spent in social obligation
- Insulate yourself from the stress of others
- Do not own problems that are not yours
- Seek professional assistance when problems remain static or worsen
Environmental Changes - Organize and promote a more positive environment to reduce stress
- Cultivate a peaceful environment
- Reduce noise, clutter, annoyances
- Sights, smells, and sounds can be relaxing or irritating
Time Management - Develop time management skills to use time effectively
- Capture waiting time and use it to your benefit
- Pace yourself - Work at a steady pace.
- Take rest periods before you are fatigued
- Take breaks from tasks requiring extended time
- Avoid boredom and overload
- Schedule time for physical activities
- Schedule time for outdoor activities
- Make leisure time an important priority (rest, relaxation, hobbies)
- Learn to say no without feeling guilty
- Do the least pleasant activities first
Problem Solving and Goal-setting - Set realistic goals
- Break overwhelming tasks into manageable steps ( You can only eat an elephant one bite at a time.)
- Worrying and problem-solving are not the same thing
- Worrying consumes significant energy and time, is non-productive, and decreases enjoyment of life
- Worrying leads you in circles, not to a solution
- Make decisions instead of permitting things to happen by default
- Knowing that we have choices and making choices can be major factors in reducing depression
- Let go of perfectionism
- Learn to live with loose ends and unfinished tasks
- Delegate tasks when you can
- Accept that they will likely not be done as you would have done them
Cognitive Distortions - Identify and change thought patterns, beliefs, perceptions, which contribute to stress and depression
- Distinguish between situations over which you have influence / control and those over which you do not
- Let go of the need to fix everything
- Accept things which you truly cannot change
- Learn from those situations - about yourself and others
- Find a meaning in the situation
- Use the situation as an opportunity for personal growth
- Maintain a flexible, open approach to situations
- Are there other ways of looking at this situation?
- Changing perceptions can reduce the stress of the situation
- Keep priorities in focus
- Use energy for endeavors which are consistent with important values
Self-acceptance - Emphasize strengths
- Accept limitations
Libet 2006
Reviewed 2/8/2010
ucodecaps
|
|
|
Home
