Stress can be a positive force for change or a debilitating drain on your energy. The first and key stage is understanding the causes of the stress and its effects on you. This is one of those situations in which you must be honest with yourself and those close to you. Frequently, the threat of something happening is far worse than the reality.

Have you read the piece, Dealing with Emotional Strain? These are issues on the same spectrum ranging from an unhealthy reaction to circumstances, to being overconfident and dismissive of potential negative consequences.

• Step one in dealing with stress is to identify the negative stimuli and the reasons they are having an adverse effect on you. The same factors will affect different people in a variety of ways, so be as specific and clear as possible.
• Step two is decide whether the issues are real or psychological. For example, not having enough money to pay the bills is a problem but only having half-a-billion pounds isn’t. If this sounds fatuous it is the reported reaction of a guy with assets of around £500 million but believed he would only be secure when he had doubled it. To most of us this is incredible but was real to him.
• Step three is either to truly accept there isn’t an issue or it isn’t as significant as our mind is telling us, or find solutions. One thing is certain, doing something is much better than waiting for someone to come and solve it for you.

Who can help you to either sort out the nature of the issues or find answers?

This may seem obvious but it is worth being explicit, only take drugs under the supervision of a doctor; do not self-medicate.