To know how to manage stress, depression and anxiety effectively, identifying what lies at the root of these problems is critical. The truth is that before you can find a solution to a problem, you must know exactly what the problem is! Once you know what the root cause of stress is, you can then develop an understanding of what is happening to you. From this point, empowering stress relieving techniques that conquer stressful illnesses can be applied.

The causes of stress and stressful illnesses will usually be divided into two groups: Causes that are within you - internal and causes that are outside you - external. Such groupings can be very confusing and they make identifying what lies at the root of stressful illnesses more difficult. You’ll now see why many of the commonly given causes of stress in these 2 groups are flawed.

External causes of stress are probably the ones believed by most people to be at the root of stress. They are situations that happen in life that most of us will have to deal with. For example, problems at work, divorce, a loved one passes away, issues with your family and a change of home.

The crucial aspect in this is to realize that such circumstances do not lie at the root of stress, anxiety or depression. It is impossible for any event no matter how trying, to cause stress. To prove this, two different people have to deal with the same situation, the death of a parent for example. The first enters into an episode of stress whereas the second doesn’t. That not all people who experience such external events becomes stressed shows that the root cause lies elsewhere.

Among the internal causes of stressful illnesses are a pessimistic outlook, talking to yourself negatively, unable to handle uncertainty and low self-confidence. Again, none of these lie at the root and are actually symptoms of stress. Talking to yourself negatively usually occurs after you’ve screwed-up or when your life doesn’t go as you’d hoped. An inability to deal with uncertainty cannot be a root cause of stress as it is a reaction to events and is actually a symptom of stress.

I’ll bet most of us have met at least one person who is always pessimistic however, they are definitely not suffering from stress, anxiety or depression. There are also people who are shy and reserved but who don’t suffer from stress, anxiety or depression as a result. Conversely, out-going and extroverted people can become quiet and introverted when they experience stress, anxiety or depression and that is precisely what happened to me.

So if these commonly given external and internal factors are not causes of stress, then what is? There is only one thing that is at the root cause of stressful illnesses: The way in which you ascribe explanations to make sense out of each situation you face. It could be something as minor as driving on a freeway to something major such as relationship breakdown. If you ascribe absolute, unpleasant and disastrous explanations to situations, you’ll arouse fear and stress levels will rise.

This explains why certain individuals facing important events remain stress-free while others become stressed out over minor issues. Individuals who remain stress-free do so because they are equipped with powerful techniques and if you learn these stress techniques then stress, anxiety and depression will never enter into your life no matter what demanding situations confront you.

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