Beyond Talk Therapy: Coping Skills You Can Use NOW to Ease Anxiety and Stress

Is talk therapy the be all end all? Well of course I am going to say that therapy is great and effective and so very helpful. I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist after all! But talk therapy without action and change will not help you meet your goals, you need more.

By the time my clients make it into my office they are usually at the point of having difficulty functioning. They are suffering due to their negative symptoms, and need immediate relief from the stress this causes them on the daily. Although releasing some of this stress through talk therapy is good, it is not effective for the organic change that needs to happen for the sustainability of healthy mental health.

Before the end of my first session, I try to develop a rapport, identify negative symptoms, make a treatment plan, but above all teach some coping skills that my clients can immediately use as soon as they leave my office. This can usually help my client feel some relief from their daily stress and as a result, keep them motivated.

What are these skills you ask? Well I first start with a discussion of what I call "holistic lifestyle" changes. So this would be things like psycho-education surrounding sleep hygiene, nutrition, mindfulness/brain breaks, and exercise. I discuss with my clients how implementing improvements in these areas could positively impact their negative mental health symptoms and thus give them some relief.

It is important for me to have the client's buy in and to not put too much on their plate. I ask them, "Which one of these "holistic lifestyle" changes could you implement into their lives, and make a commitment to yourself to try to do it?"

After that I discuss and teach the actual coping skills. For example, breathing and relaxation techniques, negative thought-stopping techniques, grounding techniques, identifying and diminishing cognitive distortions, and journaling. Again I ask, which one of these do you think you can implement into your life right now?

In starting your therapeutic journey with immediate relief of your depressive and/or anxiety symptoms, you are more likely to be less stressed and more energetic, and thus have better treatment outcomes. An extremely overwhelmed and stressed client, cannot be expected to process trauma and other interpersonal issues. This is asking the impossible!

Try to look at your therapeutic process as twofold- Step One: Use of coping skills on the daily Step Two: Process trauma and interpersonal issues and challenges. If you are able to do these things at the same time great! But again talk with your therapist so that you can correctly navigate this challenge. Happy therapy!