Dealing With Overwhelming Stress at Work: 5 Healthy Coping Mechanisms

If your job is stressful, you’re not alone. According to the American Institute of Stress, 83% of U.S. workers face work-related stress, and 1 in 4 rate work as the number one stressor in their lives. A whopping 1 million American workers call out of work every day because of stress^[1].

But just because workplace stress is common doesn’t mean it’s not a problem. Workplace stress is a form of chronic stress which can have severe consequences for your body and mind. Fortunately, there are ways to deal with overwhelming stress at work, even if you can’t leave your job.

How your body and mind respond to workplace stress

Stress is the body’s reaction to overwhelming or threatening situations – in this way, it’s more physical than mental. When under stress, the nervous system activates a series of changes in the body to help you fight, flee from, or overcome the threat in front of you.

Your body is flooded with stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. Your five senses get sharper. Your heart starts beating faster and stronger to increase blood flow to your large muscle groups. Your immune system shuts down.

Short, intense bursts of stress – also called acute stress – can help get you through temporary crises. For example, stress could help you push through an all-nighter to meet a deadline or overcome dangerous situations.

However, workplace stress tends to be chronic stress or the kind of stress that lingers over time. This kind of stress doesn’t help us face temporary threats—it stays activated even when there is no particular danger. Every day, you come face-to-face with the stress trigger—work—and your nervous system never has the opportunity to settle.

The human body isn’t meant to have its stress response activated over long periods. Being under chronic workplace stress can have serious health consequences, including high blood pressure, a weakened immune system, and mental illness^[2].

What are the most common causes of stress at work?

Some of the most common reasons why people say they’re stressed at work include:

• Long working hours
• Lack of autonomy
• Heavy workload and tight deadlines
• Low pay
• Boring or unchallenging work
• Toxic interpersonal relationships at work
• Lack of recognition or appreciation
• Job insecurity
• Poor leadership
• Harassment, bullying, and discrimination
• Lack of advancement opportunities
• Unclear job expectations
• Not having the right skills or equipment to perform duties

In addition, people in people-centered careers like social work, teaching, healthcare, and more can be affected by a special type of workplace stress called compassion fatigue. People in helping professions like these are typically exposed to a great deal of human trauma, and witnessing and supporting people through this trauma can become overwhelming over time.

How to overcome stress in the workplace when you can’t quit your job

If your work environment is so toxic it’s become a source of overwhelming stress, you probably think about finding a new, less stressful job. If making this change is viable for you, it could be an option to consider. But unfortunately, for most people, leaving a stressful job isn’t always possible.

Thankfully, leaving a stressful environment isn’t the only option for managing stress. You can learn effective, evidence-based strategies to lower your overall stress levels and improve your mental health.

This isn’t to say that self-care strategies like these are a magic solution to all causes of workplace stress. For example, if you’re getting paid a non-living wage, that’s a valid source of stress your employer has a responsibility to address. Learning stress management skills won’t make all of your work problems go away, but it can be helpful to know how to protect your body and mind from the negative effects of chronic stress.

Here are some tips.

Identify your stressors and problem-solve

First, it’s necessary to know what exactly causes stress in your job. When you’re in an overwhelming situation, it can be difficult to stop and identify the specific stressors. You might feel like you’re just trying to keep your head above water. But until you identify these stressors, you can’t take action to improve your situation.

Is a particular supervisor or colleague stressing you out? Are you working too late into the evening? Are you frustrated that you keep getting passed up for promotions?

Once you’ve identified your unique workplace stressors, make a problem-solving plan to address what’s within your control. Brainstorm solutions to each stressor. For example, should you be moved to another team to work with another supervisor? Should you talk to a manager about a clear career advancement plan?

Take a good look at your thoughts

Sometimes, your thoughts need to change. To be clear, this doesn’t mean the problems you face at work are “all in your head.” Most burnout cases happen because of objective difficulties at work, not because of individual traits. Negative thoughts don’t cause workplace stress, but they may be making it worse than it needs to be.

Examine your automatic thoughts about the things that cause you the most stress. Are you falling into any negative thinking patterns? And is there any way you can replace those thoughts with more positive, helpful thoughts?

For example, imagine you’ve always had a tense relationship with a colleague. Whenever they avoid eye contact with you, you think: “What a jerk. Why does he hate me so much? What did I ever do to him? He must just think I’m a worthless employee. Could he have found out about that mistake I made?” These thoughts probably make you feel even more stressed than you already did.

But the truth is you have no idea what’s going on inside your colleague’s head or why he avoids eye contact with you.

You might try to replace the thought with: “It hurts my feelings when he does that, but I don’t know what he’s thinking, and guessing is pointless. I’ll just focus on doing my job.” What would your stress levels be like then?

Replacing your thoughts doesn’t make a tense relationship with your colleague any less stressful, but it may prevent the situation from causing more stress than needed.

Sprinkle relaxation in throughout your days

When most people think of “relaxation,” they imagine a tropical beach getaway or at least a few days away from work. While these can be great ways to relax, they aren’t the only ways. You don’t need to accumulate paid vacation time to be able to include some relaxation in your life.

Relaxation is simply about deactivating your body’s stress response and easing your nervous system. There are many science-backed ways you can do this.

For example, practice deep belly breathing for just a couple of minutes. Breathe evenly and deeply to counteract the shallow breathing that happens under stress. You can also listen to your favorite song, do three minutes of jumping jacks, or look at a photo of nature.

Use these activities to intentionally practice relaxation throughout your day, every day. You don’t need to spend your entire lunch break meditating at a local park – although, if that’s possible for you, great! It’s more about regularly setting aside just a few moments every day to practice relaxation.

Will this magically make all of the stressful situations at work disappear? No. You may not notice a big difference in your stress levels after each relaxation session. But it starts to add up when you build a routine of intentionally creating space in your day for small moments of relaxation. Over time, your baseline stress levels will decline, making it less likely you’ll become overwhelmed by your job’s demands.

Build detachment rituals

Another important way to better cope with workplace stress is to practice detachment—in other words, leave work at work.

Of course, this is easier said than done for many people. One thing that may help is to build detachment rituals to mark the boundary between work and the rest of your life. You can practice these rituals every day when you leave work to detach yourself from the stress you face at your job.

For example, you could listen to a favorite relaxing song before driving away from your office. If you work from home, you could create a ritual around putting your laptop away in a reserved place.

Practicing mindfulness can also help you detach from work when you’re off the clock. Practice returning to the present moment whenever you catch yourself thinking about work. Take 2 or 3 mindful breaths and ground yourself where you are now. Be present with the people you’re with now and savor the moments you spend away from the job.

Talk to a professional

Lastly, if these coping strategies don’t help, it could be beneficial to talk to a mental health professional. A therapist can provide a safe place where you can openly explore stressful situations you’re facing at work and how it makes you feel. They can teach you new coping skills to get through the stressful work days and help you make a plan if the best course of action is to leave the job.

At The Center • A Place of HOPE, we deeply understand stress’s severe impacts on your life. Mental health doesn’t happen in a vacuum; your job is essential to your life. Our clinical team can teach you new skills to cope with workplace stress and ensure each aspect of your health and well-being is handled with our proven Whole Person Care approach.

We also offer a specialized, highly confidential, and exclusive treatment program for high-net-worth individuals seeking more privacy and security. You’ve achieved so much, but those achievements may have come with overwhelming stress. With mental health treatment, stress no longer needs to hold you back.

Are you ready to beat workplace stress and start on the road to complete well-being? Contact us for more information about admissions.

1 – https://www.stress.org/workplace-stress
2 – https://www.apa.org/topics/stress/health