End-of-Year Stress May Be Unavoidable, But Help Is Available

ATLANTA — The end of the year is often considered a time of celebration, merriment and joy. While this can be true, worrying about things like buying gifts, family tensions and final exams for students and faculty can cause a lot of stress.

While you might not be able to avoid this stress, it does not have to ruin the holidays or start the new year on a sour note.

“Stress is a component of life,” Raé Nicole Lundy, director of the Counseling Center at Georgia State, said. “The good news is that there are many ways to treat it.”

Lundy said stress can be treated in three broad ways: mitigation, regulation and management.

Mitigating stress starts with anticipating and reducing stressors. Preparation here is key.

“There are some things we can put in place as relates to mitigating stress,” Lundy said. “For example, if the stress is related to going home, students can have conversations beforehand that allow them to mitigate stressors. And if home is not a safe place, students can come to the Counseling Center to process with a counselor in a confidential safe space.”

Regulation means paying attention to habits that can make stress worse.

“There are three things you always want to think of to regulate stress: What you eat, how much you’re sleeping and exercise,” Lundy said.

Lundy said healthy practices will never “cure” stress and anxiety, but they can have an enormous impact on how stress can be experienced and addressed.

Managing stress requires finding new practices that can reduce symptoms. Lundy suggests identifying triggers, avoiding hot-button topics, turning off the TV if the news causes anxiety and altering the situation. If you can’t escape a stressful situation, adjust the way you approach it.

Above all, Lundy urges people to connect.

“Connecting with people and seeking healthy relationships can go a long way to reduce stress and anxiety,” Lundy said.

Another way to manage stress and anxiety is to practice mindfulness. Mindfulness is the practice of purposefully, non-judgmentally and continually cultivating active attention to the present moment. Page Anderson, an associate professor of psychology and neuroscience, can point to a mountain of evidence showing that face-to-face mindfulness interventions — guided meditation, for instance — can reduce anxiety and stress.

Anderson also recommends using a mindfulness app.

“Mindfulness training apps may circumvent barriers to traditional face-to-face mindfulness training or psychotherapy, like high cost, insurance issues, difficulty obtaining transportation, concern for stigma and negative beliefs about health seeking,” Anderson said.

A study Anderson conducted in collaboration with Deah Abbott and Caleb Lack of the University of Central Oklahoma found that access to mindfulness apps substantially reduced symptoms of anxiety within four weeks.

Lundy said the most important step to treat end-of-the-year stress is knowing when to seek help. Anyone thinking of harming themselves or others should seek help immediately, but it is always better to seek treatment before it is that dire. If symptoms of anxiety and stress persist for two or more weeks, it is a good idea to see a counselor.

“It’s OK to ask for help,” Lundy said. “Part of being able to experience emotional help is to pay attention to what you are experiencing.”

The Counseling Center has a variety of resources for students who need treatment for anxiety, stress or any other mental health issue. Counseling is available both in person at the Atlanta Campus Counseling Center, located at 75 Piedmont Ave., Suite 200, and virtually. Counseling services are available at all of Georgia State University’s campuses by calling 404-413-1640. Visit the Counseling Center website here.

— Story by Will Greer