Work Stress
Stressed about your job? You’re not alone. These days, many people are forced to work long hours or multiple jobs just to make ends meet. Others feel like they are never “off the clock,” as they have to keep answering emails and checking work texts long after they’ve left the office. The increase in “working from home” certainly offers advantages in some cases, but for others it simply dissolves the boundary between work and home life. If your boss can contact you at any time, and you’re expected to respond, are you ever truly not at work?
Work-related stress can be a challenge even when you have a reasonably normal working environment, but for those employed in a toxic workplace, the level of distress can be off the charts. If you have an abusive boss or feel bullied by co-workers or others at your job, the situation can often feel hopeless, and lead to serious mental and emotional problems.
Work-related stress often manifests as anxiety, rumination, exhaustion, anger, or dread. Worse, these symptoms don’t usually subside once you stop working; they can easily bleed into your personal life, causing friction in relationships and, in effect, creating new areas of stress in your life. For many people, work-related stress can cause serious issues with their sleep, making them even more vulnerable to the pressure they face at work the following day. It can be a vicious cycle.
Too often, work-related stress is not treated as the profound societal problem that it is. People are told to “suck it up” or “if you don’t like it then find a new job.” None of that is helpful. Anyone struggling with work-related stress deserves a place they can go to get real support. What might that look like?
Learning to build and maintain healthy boundaries between work time and personal time
Cognitive tools to reframe how you think about and relate to your job
Somatic interventions to help reduce the intensity of work-related stress symptoms
Game-planning how to interact with difficult people at work
A chance to simply vent frustrations about your job (this can feel really good!)
An opportunity to step back and re-evaluate whether you want to continue in your current job or line of work, and if not, exploring what that means for you
Daniel has a special interest in working with clients struggling with work-related stress (he has extensive experience working with healthcare professionals in particular). To learn more, click here.