Welcome back to the blog for Mindset Therapy.  In today’s blog, we will discuss the impact of mental health symptoms on your physical health and functioning. Understanding how your mental and physical health are interrelated is key to making long-term improvements in your overall level of functioning.

Stress is experienced by everyone, and can actually be a good thing because it motivates us to get something done.  However, sometimes there can be too much stress and this can lead to problems with your mental and physical health.  Physiologically, stress and fear activate very similar responses in the body.  When we are faced with a fearful situation, our body prepares to deal with the situation.  For our body to respond, our heart rate increases, our breathing gets faster and shallower, our muscles tense, and digestion stops/slows down.  As this system is activated in response to the actual danger, we begin to experience fear.  In that dangerous situation we can respond with fight-flight-or-freeze. The choice made depends on various factors such as the type of danger and the individual person.  

If you noticed, I mentioned fear is in response to an ACTUAL danger.   Stress is that same system being turned on in response to a PERCEIVED danger.  This is not to say you do not view the stressful situation as dangerous or problematic, it just means the actual danger situation is not occurring at that moment.  Some examples of actual danger situations are a dog lunging at you ready to bite, being mugged, or trying to escape a house fire.  Perceived dangers are those worries you have about things that are happening in the future or could happen. For example, will you get the promotion, do you have enough finances for the month, or will your child be safe on their drive home from school. These are very real concerns, but not actually happening at that moment.  When stress constantly activates the fight-flight-freeze response, you use all your resources and become more irritable, have less patience, and sleep is impacted.

At Mindset Therapy you can learn ways to manage your stress and get more energy and productive sleep back.  We provide mental health services in Texas from trained professionals, via an online psychologist in Texas, which allows you to attend the appointment from the location most convenient for you.

Visit Mindset Therapy at https://www.mindsettherapyonline.com to learn more about the services offered and make an appointment.   If you are not sure whether the service is right for you, you can also email or call, and we will be happy to discuss the services further!