Stress Alleviation Techniques
Stress Alleviation Techniques
General Mental Health Coping Strategies
The COVID 19 pandemic crisis has resulted in significant sudden disruptions in everyone’s lives around the world. The levels of stress and anxiety arising due to severe changes in lifestyle along with the uncertainties involved regarding ourselves and our family acquiring the disease, losing our jobs and overall concern about our future parallel that of survivors of traumatic events including natural and man-made disasters. Frequently psychological and mental health assistance is needed. People often have strong reactions to the life-threatening situations of the disasters that, in many cases, last long beyond the threat itself. They form a psycho-physiological response that can be crippling to the individual. This is called either acute stress disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depending on when the symptoms appear.
The most common symptoms of PTSD are depression, anxiety, anger, and isolation. Sleep is often interrupted and the body’s immune system is compromised. Somatic symptoms can include stomachaches, digestive problems, headaches, backaches, cardiological problems including high blood pressure, problems with vision, and a host of other similar medical conditions.
There is a distinct need for psychological counseling following traumatic events, but ongoing counseling is usually not available. Teams of volunteers from the Sathya Sai Organization, including physicians and mental health professionals, may spend up to two weeks working with survivors on the scene of a disaster. Ongoing and consistent counseling is usually not feasible or available.
Traditional treatment for PTSD and other stress-related conditions due to traumatizing and life-threatening events are all based in relieving the mind and body of the stress created by the initial event, and empowering the individual to continue to release stress due to this event and other similar events that may occur in the future. A method to teach survivors traditional exercises to reduce stress is the Stress Alleviation Protocol.