How to Cope with Holiday Stress and Anxiety

Our lives are filled with stress. Family responsibilities, work and bills can be a source of stress for practically anyone, add in the holidays and you have a recipe for stress and anxiety! Many health problems are caused or intensified by stress.

“Stress can increase the risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, depression, Alzheimer's disease and many other health conditions,” said Kevin R. Patterson, MD, Medical Director of Penn Highlands Healthcare Behavioral Health Services. “And if you’re already suffering from health problems, stress often makes those conditions even worse.”

Learning to cope with stress will not only help lead to a more positive mood, it will also help improve your physical health and can even extend your life. Fortunately, there are a variety of coping skills that you can implement in your daily life so that stress is one less thing to worry about.

Problem-based coping vs. emotion-based coping.

Problem-based coping, in which you change the situation that is causing stress, is one way to cope with stress. For example, if finding time to shop for gifts is stressing you out, you can practice problem-based coping by shopping online when you take a break at work or after your children go to bed.

Emotion-based coping, on the other hand, is when you take steps to manage your feelings and emotions in circumstances when you can’t change the situation, such as during annual holiday get-togethers with relatives. While you may be expected to attend or even host the festivities and cannot change the situation, you can manage your feelings in a healthier way by giving yourself permission to feel your feelings without judgment.

“In many cases, there isn’t one approach that is the right one,” said Dr. Patterson. “Every situation is different, as is everyone’s response to that situation. If you try one approach and it doesn’t help, try the other approach.”

How to use problem-based coping skills.

While significant, life-altering decisions, such as leaving a job or ending a marriage, are examples of problem-based coping, so are less drastic measures, such as changing your behavior or creating a plan of action.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by work, quitting isn’t the only way to change the situation. You can create a to-do list that helps you better manage your time, or you can ask a co-worker for some help.

Likewise, when you’re dealing with stressful relationships that you don’t want to, or can’t, remove from your life, you can practice problem-based coping skills by establishing healthy boundaries.

Other problem-based coping skills include working on managing your time, walking away from a stressful situation, engaging in problem solving, finding someone to help and confronting the person or situation directly.

How to use emotion-based coping skills.

Emotion-based coping skills help you deal with loneliness, sadness, nervousness or other stressors in a healthy way by soothing you, temporarily distracting you, changing your mood or helping you tolerate the stress.

Instead of changing the situation, such as not attending a holiday get together with relatives, by using problem-based skills, you can manage your stress by doing something soothing when you get home, such as taking a long bath or going for a walk. Or, you can change your mood by watching a funny TV show or playing with your children or pets.

When dealing with stressful relationships, you can practice breathing exercises to help regulate your emotions or mindfulness to help remind you of the things in the relationship that make you grateful. Other emotion-based coping skills include self-care, exercise, journaling, aromatherapy, hobbies or relaxation apps.

“While emotion-based coping skills can be a great tool, they shouldn’t be a substitute for dealing with the situation at hand,” said Dr. Patterson. “Constantly distracting yourself from reality is not a sustainable solution. If you’re having trouble dealing with stress in healthy ways, a mental health care provider can help you develop productive strategies.”

Penn Highlands Healthcare offers a variety of inpatient and outpatient behavioral health services to treat the unique mental health concerns of patients of all ages, including children ages 5 and up, adolescents, teens, adults and seniors. Learn more at www.phhealthcare.org/bhs.