The Stress Solution ― Using Empathy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to Reduce Anxiety and Develop Resilience

The amount of stress in America and throughout the world is rapidly rising. We work too much, sleep too little, love with half a heart, and wonder why we are unhappy and unhealthy.

Half of Americans indicate they lie awake at night due to stress, while three quarters experience stress symptomseither physical, psychological, or both. The Harris Interactive Survey conducted in 2012 indicates high stress levels among Americans, with 53 percent saying they have little or no support for stress management from their health care provider. Roughly 70 percent of Americans hate their jobs and feel disengaged, according to a 2013 Gallup poll, while two thirds of office visits to primary care doctors are stress-related. According to the World Health Organization, Americans die sooner and have higher rates of disease than 16 other affluent countries.

We know that personal and professional success does not come without sacrifice, but it should not ruin our health and leave our relationships devoid of love and intimacy.The Stress Solution will help you take steps to free yourself from the obsession to excel; it will allow you to begin the process of finding meaning in your work, and in your relationships. We need to go beyond material reward to being able to establish genuine, healthy accomplishments throughout all aspects of life. Many people throughout the world are discovering that what they thought would bring them happiness has encapsulated them in an emotional prison, but there is still a path forward.

Empathy is defined as the capacity to understand and respond to the unique aspects of another’s experience. It is our innate ability to decipher the objective truthmeaning perceiving without bias, the accurate reading of anotherin situations and interactions. CBT is a form of psychotherapy that focuses on understanding how thoughts, feelings and behaviors are related. The process of CBT focuses on changing how a person feels and behaves by correcting distorted thinking.

Empathy-oriented CBT lowers stress and changes the brain in individuals, couples and families. The new combination of the power of empathy and CBT, as measured through the science of neurochemistry, will provide the most comprehensive self-help tool to date. Empathy calms the emotional brain so we can perceive accurately and thoughtfully. Neurochemistry allows us to produce our own natural chemicals that create calm, focused energy to do and be the best we can be. And finally, CBT corrects distorted thinking. These three components produce a synergy that enhances our lives and releases our potential.

Never before have these elements been combined in one practical formula to reduce the inordinate amount of stress in our society and in our world. Dr. Arthur P. Ciaramicoli has been practicing with these items for more than 35 years, combining them in his workshops, teaching, and psychotherapy with the general public, marital and family seminars, police departments, teachers, professors, corporate workers, and an array of other occupations.

Arthur P. Ciaramicoli, EdD, PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist, is the chief medical officer of Soundmindz.org, a mental health platform with 42,000 registered users and an annualized download rate of 150,000 for three apps Ciaramicoli developed. He lives in Hopkinton, MA.