In a month dedicated to all things lovely and beautiful, the last thing you need is to be suffering from beaucoup amounts of stress. Stress can put a damper on your love life, not to mention your health and career. Stress embodies both psychological and physical ailments and can be treated using a variety of tried and truepsychotherapy techniques.

Everyone knows that working is stressful and probably the number one source of worry in life, especially with the current state of things. Economic downturn anyone? Remember that learning to prioritize your deadlines and work load can drastically relieve some pressure.Cognitive behavioral therapyis also a viable treatment for work stress as it solves problems concerning negative emotions, thoughts and behavior patterns using a goal-oriented process.  A psychologist, for example, may implement time-management training to help you more effectively manage your work flow, which he or she may then combine with mental relaxation techniques. Cognitive behavioral therapy has been proven effective in treating anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders on a grand scale, so a little work stress is nothing to stress about. Pun intended.

Now moving on to the next most stressful life occurrence, which is relationships, big shock, especially those involving the opposite sex. Most of the time your happiness hinges on what those close to you are saying and doing. Have a spat with your honey one morning? More than likely your whole day is shot. Despite the stigma surrounding this time-honored stress management technique, couples therapy is a great way to learn how to relate to your loved one. But people hear the word therapy and immediately think “only crazy people need therapy.” Not true. Couples therapy involves solving the problems between two people by identifying the conflict in a relationship. A series of discussion questions will likely be asked by a licensed counselor or psychologist aimed at starting a dialogue to help you determine what changes are needed.

Not all stress is attributed to a specific source; some people experience stress all the time for no discernable reason. In cases such as these, people have been shown to benefit from a technique called biofeedback. Even though it sounds like something from a science fiction movie, biofeedback encompasses an assortment of techniques that are designed to help people gain control over various body functions including heart rate and breathing patterns. Patients are hooked up to machines that monitor body function, while a biofeedback therapist assists them with a series of mental exercises geared toward learning to control the body from within. According toThe Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, it is “a process that enables an individual to learn how to change physiological activity for the purposes of improving health and performance.”

Stress is a part of life, but it doesn’t have to take over every waking moment. Learning to deal with stress using psychological techniques versus medication or other harmful substances is more effective in the long run.