Discover One Of The Most Effective Techniques To End Stress: Systematic Desensitization

Surely you have often experienced unpleasant feelings or emotions related to stress, anxiety or panic, which in some cases fade or disappear over time. It all depends on how you deal with the situation.

However, sometimes we can find ourselves in situations that we consider impossible to manage, and which lead to states of mental and emotional imbalance as well as suffering.

These feelings of insecurity and limitation can come to paralyze, hinder and block the normal functioning of our daily activities.

“Often… the prison we think we are locked in is not; the door has no lock. ”

-Catherine Rambert-

No one escapes the impact of stress due to the hectic pace of life that we lead in the contemporary world.

Daily demands and high levels of violence, among others, cause a significant deterioration in our quality of life.

However, the Systematic Desensitization technique can help you solve this problem.

Systematic desensitization is an assistive technique that involves evoking or repeating the real experience of situations that are considered threatening.

Deep relaxation therapy is therefore simultaneously carried out in order to reduce states of discomfort.

Systematic desensitization: an effective technique

The process of systematic desensitization can make it easier for you to deal with a stressful situation in a conscious way, reliving and expressing little by little what you are thinking and how you feel when exposed to what is stressing you.

Relaxation will generate a calming effect in you and over time, it will provide you with all the tools you need to learn from your experiences, which in turn will reduce your anxiety.

Systematic desensitization allows you to reinforce a learned behavior of self-control through repetition and pace that you consider adequate while respecting your emotions.

In other words, if during a session you feel particularly anxious, then stop everything. Once you’ve calmed down, repeat the process to avoid the opposite effect: greater rejection, or greater aversion.

It’s about unlearning negative responses to a stressful situation and transforming the experience.

To achieve this, it is necessary to opt for the development of capacities and resources that can allow us to consciously control distressing situations.

In this case, the memory is there to recall the new learning, when it is needed.

The main benefits of systematic desensitization

With systematic desensitization, you can acquire resources so that you can deal with any situation that you consider to be a source of anxiety.

However, you also learn to work on the control of your body and your mind, through breathing and relaxation.

By learning the relaxation technique used as part of systematic desensitization, you can achieve very favorable benefits and results for your health.

It is a technique that allows you to acquire complete well-being reflected in the mind-body unity and allowing you to achieve overall well-being.

Breathing and physical relaxation consciously make it possible to increase physical, mental and emotional self-control and control.

As a result, illnesses and physical symptoms become less frequent and progressively milder, until some of them disappear.

It is very important that you are motivated when initiating a systematic desensitization process.

For the technique to work, it is essential that you put your heart into it; it is not easy, of course, but it generates great benefits. You have to be willing to put your mind and your emotions in order.

The main steps to follow

Applying the systematic desensitization technique involves having sufficient space and time.

Comfort and calm are important, as is having enough time, without worrying about other commitments that confuse your mind.

You should start with a moderate stretching workout, exerting muscle tension and distension throughout your body.

It is necessary that you carry out this training in an interrupted way, without effort and by maintaining a deep and calm breathing rhythm.

Before, or during the session, you should take note of all the situations that cause you stress or anxiety, preferably the least important fear to the most important fear.

Then start imagining each situation to yourself, little by little, expressing everything you are feeling and breathing deeply.

It is necessary to repeat this technique as many times as necessary without moving to another situation before you have complete mastery and control over the one you are working on.

The most important thing is to be constant. Once you’ve started the process, don’t stop it until you feel the stress level has reduced. Practice this at least twice a week and you will see the effects very quickly.

Some recommendations you should take into account

To properly apply the systematic desensitization technique, it is important that you take into account some resulting recommendations that are fundamental when putting the theory into practice.

Among them, the most important are:

• It is necessary to admit with humility that you find yourself in a situation that is possibly limiting your life. But you must understand that this situation can be dealt with and improved, with will, steadfastness, commitment and optimism.
• Seek help if needed: It will always be possible to seek professional help, when the situation has become extremely problematic and threatening while out of your control. Asking for help is a signal of wisdom and sanity. Resistance to doing so indicates neglect in self-care as well as false independence.
• Systematic desensitization has been recommended because it is a technique that triggers processes with immediate or, at least, short-term effects. However, the duration depends on the commitment and progress achieved by each person.