Stress Exploration Worksheet
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If you’re looking for a stress worksheet to share with therapy clients, you can download and use this free stress exploration worksheet to help them manage stress.
While stress is a normal biological response that everyone experiences at times, supporting clients through ongoing stress is a critical part of therapeutic treatment.
The free stress exploration worksheet linked from this article can be used in session or provided as a handout to examine the impact of stress on your client’s life. You can also share the downloadable stress worksheet collaboratively with clients to find stress management treatment strategies that will reduce the effects of chronic stress and improve quality of life.
Effects of chronic stress
Stress is the body’s way of physically and emotionally responding to challenges, major life changes, or demands.
Common stressors include:
- Moving or relocation
- Relational difficulties, like an argument with a partner
- Losing a job or starting a new job
- Taking on too many responsibilities
- Unexpected events
- Birth of a child
- Limited free time
- Upcoming exams or deadlines
- Health problems like chronic illness or injury
- High standards or performance expectations
- Divorce or separation
- Traffic
- Loss of a loved one
- Work challenges
- Discrimination
- Legal problems
- Abuse
- Financial difficulties
- Chores
- A neverending to-do list
During the fight-or-flight response, the body increases heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure, and releases stress hormones.
When people undergo acute stress, such as taking an exam or navigating a challenge, they may experience tense muscles, sweating, difficulty sleeping, mood swings, migraine, fatigue, restlessness, teeth grinding, memory problems, and digestive upset.
While it is normal to experience acute stress from time-to-time, ongoing stress or chronic stress may lead to burnout and have negative physical, emotional, and mental health effects.
Chronic stress has been associated with:
- Headaches and migraine
- Sleep difficulties
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Digestive disorders
- Irritability
- Memory problems
- Relational conflicts
- Heart disease
- Weakened immune system
- Substance use
- Other mental health disorders
- Worsened asthma
- Poor diet and exercise habits
Types of stress management tools
The good news about chronic stress is that it is treatable with various stress management tools, such as the exercises in the stress exploration worksheet.
Other stress management techniques include:
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
Techniques like cognitive restructuring can help clients to examine their core beliefs, reframe their response to stressful situations, and evaluate their perceived access to resources.
This may lead to setting better boundaries, using assertive communication techniques, or increasing access to coping strategies.
Building resilience
Having resilience can reduce the effects of stress and increase the capacity to handle stressful situations. Developing resilience may come from increased social and familial support, or from resources such as stress exploration worksheets.
Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT)
DBT is a great way to strengthen distress tolerance and mindfulness skills. Specific skills include Wise Mind worksheets or the REST skill.
Self-led practices
- Journaling: Setting aside five to 10 minutes a day to journal can help relieve stress and change one’s outlook. You could suggest to clients that they list their achievements or credits each day, list the things that are causing them stress and possible solutions, or simply record feelings to discuss in therapy.
- Gratitude practice: Gratitude is associated with increased self-esteem, a positive mindset, and resilience. Asking a client to record as little as three things they’re grateful for each day can have a dramatic effect on their outlook and mindset. Or, this can form part of an art journal practice, like artist Tammi Salas, who has a daily gratitude journal practice.
- Movement: Exercise is a great way to relieve stress and build resilience. Clients don’t necessarily need to hit the treadmill—even shaking their body for a few minutes or standing barefoot on grass for five minutes can be beneficial.
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR)
This type of therapy promotes present time awareness and non-judgmental observations of feelings. MBSR incorporates body scans, mindful activities, self-compassion, and meditation to lower stress.
Relaxation techniques
Deep breathing or square breathing is a great way to reduce stress. You can demonstrate breathing techniques during a session or provide a stress management handout that illustrates one of the techniques.
Another relaxation technique is yoga nidra. Like a body scan, yoga nidra is a deeply relaxing meditation activity. You can direct clients to apps like Insight Timer, or YouTube, to find a free yoga nidra meditation to practice.
Meditation is another stress management technique that improves resilience and capacity for stress. There are many meditation apps available, such as Calm, Insight Timer, Headspace, or Smiling Mind (for younger people).
Stress worksheets
Used as an in-session tool, stress worksheets can help clients identify stressors and visualize the cumulative impact of stress in their life and day-to-day functioning.
Solution-focused therapy
Therapy provides a great opportunity to collaboratively problem solve to find solutions for chronic stress.
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)
ACT promotes mindfulness and accepting emotions without judgment or avoidance. The idea is that over time, like with DBT, the client is more likely to handle difficult situations with less distress.
Time management
Therapy is an opportunity to examine how your clients handle their time and possibly explore other challenges, like attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which could be increasing stress.
Boundary setting
Learning and implementing effective boundaries through the use of a boundaries worksheet is a helpful way to manage stress by ensuring clients are not over committing themselves.
How to use the stress exploration worksheet in your practice
This free stress worksheet can be used in several ways:
- During an in-person or virtual session, as a stress worksheet for adults, which provides prompts to work through stressors and to identify stress reduction strategies
- A psychoeducation tool to demonstrate relaxation techniques
- Homework between sessions to identify and record stressors and ways the client handled the stress
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