The Impact of Chronic Stress
Stress is the body's natural response to demands and threats. In small doses, stress can be beneficial — it can motivate you to meet deadlines, prepare for challenges, and respond to danger. However, when stress becomes chronic or overwhelming, it takes a serious toll on both physical and mental health. Chronic stress has been linked to cardiovascular disease, weakened immune function, digestive problems, chronic pain, insomnia, and accelerated aging. Mentally, it contributes to anxiety, depression, irritability, difficulty concentrating, and emotional exhaustion.
Dr. Stephanie L. Cornette, Psy.D., helps clients understand their individual stress responses and develop personalized strategies for managing stress more effectively. Using cognitive behavior therapy and reality-based techniques, she addresses both the external sources of stress and the internal thought patterns that amplify the stress response.
Understanding the Stress Response
The stress response — commonly known as "fight or flight" — is a complex physiological reaction that prepares your body to deal with perceived threats. When your brain detects danger, it triggers the release of stress hormones including adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones increase heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tension, and breathing rate while suppressing non-essential functions like digestion and immune response.
This response evolved to protect us from physical danger, but in modern life, it is often triggered by psychological stressors — work pressure, financial worries, relationship conflicts, health concerns, parenting challenges, and the constant demands of a fast-paced world. When the stress response is activated repeatedly without adequate recovery time, the body and mind pay a cumulative price.
Common Sources of Chronic Stress
Work and Career
Heavy workloads, tight deadlines, difficult colleagues, job insecurity, long commutes, work-life imbalance, and career transitions can all generate significant stress.
Relationships
Conflict with a partner, divorce proceedings, family disagreements, social isolation, and caregiving responsibilities are common sources of relational stress.
Health Concerns
Managing chronic illness, recovering from surgery, dealing with pain, and health anxiety can create persistent stress that worsens both physical and mental well-being.
Life Transitions
Moving, becoming a parent, retirement, losing a loved one, financial changes, and other major life events — even positive ones — generate stress that requires adaptation.
Understanding and Managing Anger
Anger is a normal, healthy emotion. It can signal that something is wrong, motivate you to address injustice, and help you set boundaries. The problem arises when anger is too frequent, too intense, lasts too long, or is expressed in destructive ways. Uncontrolled anger damages relationships, impairs judgment, creates legal and professional problems, and harms physical health through elevated blood pressure, heart strain, and chronic muscle tension.
Many people who struggle with anger also experience underlying anxiety, depression, or unresolved grief. Anger often serves as a secondary emotion — a protective response that masks more vulnerable feelings such as hurt, fear, shame, or helplessness. Effective anger management addresses these underlying emotions rather than simply suppressing the anger itself.
Anger Management Techniques
- 01 Recognizing Triggers: Identifying the specific situations, people, and thought patterns that trigger anger is the first step toward managing it. Dr. Cornette helps clients develop awareness of their anger cues — both physical (muscle tension, increased heart rate, clenched jaw) and cognitive (hostile attributions, "should" thinking).
- 02 Cognitive Restructuring: Changing the way you think about anger-provoking situations. This involves replacing exaggerated, inflammatory thoughts with more rational, balanced perspectives. Instead of thinking "This is unbearable, they are doing this on purpose," you learn to think, "This is frustrating, but I can handle it."
- 03 Relaxation Strategies: Techniques such as deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and mindfulness meditation help calm the physiological arousal that accompanies anger, giving you time and space to respond thoughtfully rather than reactively.
- 04 Communication Skills: Learning to express anger assertively rather than aggressively. This includes using "I" statements, active listening, and expressing needs clearly without attacking or blaming others.
- 05 Problem-Solving: When anger stems from real, solvable problems, therapy can help you develop structured approaches to address the underlying issues rather than simply reacting emotionally.
Dr. Cornette's Therapeutic Approach
Dr. Cornette uses cognitive behavior therapy as the foundation for stress and anger management treatment. CBT has extensive research support for reducing both stress and anger by targeting the thought patterns and behavioral habits that maintain these problems. Her reality-based approach ensures that therapy is practical and focused on real-world application — the skills you learn in session are designed to be used immediately in your daily life.
Treatment typically begins with a thorough assessment to understand the nature, severity, and context of your stress or anger difficulties. Psychological testing may be recommended if there are questions about co-occurring conditions such as mood disorders or personality disorders. From there, Dr. Cornette develops an individualized treatment plan that addresses your specific stressors, triggers, coping patterns, and goals.
Her wholistic philosophy means that treatment considers all aspects of your well-being — physical health, relationships, work life, and personal values — in developing a comprehensive strategy for managing stress and anger more effectively.
Take Control of Stress and Anger
You deserve to feel calm, centered, and in control. Dr. Cornette can help you develop the skills and strategies to manage stress and anger effectively.
Call (773) 988-7144