Everything you need to know about

Adjustment Stressor

What is Adjustment Stress?

Adjustment stress is an emotional and behavioral reaction to big, life-changing instances like moving to a new place, starting a new job or a new school, or even things such as achieving a relationship milestone. While this is normal to feel, severe adjustment stress can make someone feel completely overwhelmed and experience symptoms such asexcessive sadness, anxiety, anger, or difficulty functioning

What does adjustment stress disorder look like?

Emotional Rollercoaster: You experience intense sadness, anxiety, anger, or even a mix of all three. Everyday situations feel emotionally charged.

Behavioral Shifts: You struggle to function normally. Daily tasks become difficult, social interactions feel draining, and unhealthy coping mechanisms might emerge.

Physical Symptoms: Headaches, stomachaches, sleep problems, or changes in appetite can manifest as your body struggles to cope with the emotional strain.

Effective treatments for Adjustment Stress. 

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

For individuals struggling with adjustment stress, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) offers a powerful and well-researched treatment approach.

CBT focuses on the relationship between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. This approach allows you to learn about your automatic thought patterns, unhelpful ways of thinking that leads to negatively impacting feelings, and fostering a more realistic and adaptive belief.

CBT empowers individuals to reframe their anxieties and develop a more positive outlook. Additionally, CBT equips patients with practical skills to manage anxious situations effectively. These skills might include relaxation techniques, exposure therapy, and cognitive restructuring exercises.

Lifestyle Management and Behavioral Coaching

Any form of adjustment that is triggered by a change in life circumstances can often be a highly stressful event. These changes are not only stressful in the context of what changed but how it affects our daily routine. Think about it, when a student moves to a new school, it’s not only stressful to adjust to the new environment, new people, and culture, but it also disrupts daily routines such as sleep, habituated patterns, and even changes in time management.

In treating adjustment stress, it is important to go above and beyond just mental health management, but also to promote building lifestyle behaviors such as managing sleep, including self-care practices such as mindfulness and regular exercise.

Adjustment stress is not only taxing to our mind but also to our physical body.

Learn more about with a free call with an ADHOC Therapist

Meet our adjustment stressor experts

  • Andrea Ronell - Therapist

    Hey! Andrea here, your guide through the confusing world of teen & young adult mental health. Truth be told, you are the main character of your story – maybe you’re just a little afraid to shine. I'm here to equip you with practical tools and strategies to navigate those challenges and crush those negative vibes.

  • Jimmy Yang - Therapist

    I'm Jimmy, and I specialize in helping teens like you find real, actionable solutions for your mental health struggles. No matter how small they seem, these steps can make a huge difference. Together, we'll ditch the confusion, figure out what works for YOU, and help you unlock your inner rockstar.

  • Marina Dragovic - Therapist

    Hey there! I'm Marina, and I'm all about helping teens, young adults, and adults from all walks of life navigate their unique journeys. I ditch the whole "labeling" thing and focus on helping you discover your inner bad*ss, the one with the strength, resilience, and power to tackle whatever life throws your way.

ABOUT US

How Does Adhoc Therapy Treat Adjustment Stress?

Here at Adhoc Therapy, we approach things in a holistic manner. We aim to understand you as whole, identifying your strengths, your passions, and do a comprehensive assessment on your thoughts patterns, beliefs, and identity. Adhoc Therapy will help you promote a healthy way of understanding the stressor, encourage acceptance of your the novelty of your situation, and custom-tailor lifestyle behaviors that you can be proud of.

  • Being a human is complex, sometimes we are resilient, but at times can be vulnerable. Adjustment Stress disorder can affect someone due to multiple factors but is a result of inability to cope.

  • Adjustment disorders are a reaction to a significant life change that is significantly distressing. Think of when a child moves to a completely different school, they may have a hard time adjusting since not only is the school new, but so are the teachers, students, and culture.

  • One of our licensed clinician will conduct a clinical assessment to gather information on symptoms, impact, and duration. Adjustment disorder, to simply put, is the presence of these symptoms, within 3 months of a stressful life event, that is significantly impacts a person in different settings of their life.

FAQS

  • It is important to include lifestyle changes that helps us regulate stress. Activities that are known to help decrease cortisol, the stress hormone, are things such as healthy eating habits, consistent movement and exercise, and proper quality sleep.

  • Validate, support and encourage! It is important to help someone who may be struggling with adjusting by validating their positions and how difficult it is, supporting them on certain things such as with their daily activities, and encourage them to do other prosocial activities such as maybe walking or cooking them.

  • Medications can be used to lessen the impact of the symptoms that are associated with the stressors. For example, benzodiazepines can be used to lessen anxiety or sleep medications to help with insomnia.

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