Stress Inoculation: Skills To Deal With Stressful Times

Stress inoculation training (SIT) is a form of cognitive behavioral therapy designed specifically to teach those with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other stress-related conditions effective coping skills to manage their symptoms. It often involves strategies like diaphragmatic breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and role-playing to counteract the effects of stress related to trauma. While it may not be the right treatment option for all people with PTSD, it can be helpful for many. You can speak to a therapist in person or online to determine whether stress inoculation training may be beneficial for you and your mental health.

What is stress inoculation training for stress management?

Stress inoculation training is a type of cognitive behavior therapy, which is one of the most common methods of treating post-traumatic stress disorder. In general, cognitive behavioral therapy, you’ll usually work with your therapist to learn to recognize negative thoughts patterns that influence your behavior. From there, you may work on shifting these negative thoughts into more positive, healthy ones. 

Inoculation therapy: relaxation and coping techniques

With stress inoculation therapy in particular, your therapist may use the same techniques to help you address thoughts that result from or exacerbate PTSD symptoms. This approach often includes relaxation strategies, progressive muscle relaxation, or deep breathing exercises. Broadly, stress inoculation training may help you develop healthier, more effective ways to cope with stress and PTSD symptoms.

Coping skills often taught in stress inoculation training

Stress inoculation therapy sessions are usually done with a therapist or other mental health professional. With their guidance, you'll likely work on things like learning to recognize stress-inducing experiences and developing coping skills that can help you when you encounter these triggers in the future. While the contents of stress inoculation training’s skills acquisition phase can vary depending on the person and their situation, some of the coping skills you might learn in SIT include the following.

Deep breathing

Deep breathing may be one of the first new skills that you'll learn—in particular, breathing slowly and deeply from your diaphragm. The key is usually to fill and empty your lungs fully on each inhale and exhale. After doing this a few times, you may feel more centered, grounded, and able to focus on the current moment. Since you can do this technique from anywhere, you may be able to incorporate it into real-life scenarios to help yourself find calm.

Progressive muscle relaxation

Progressive muscle relaxation training is a methodical way to relax your muscles so that you can relax overall. It involves tensing and releasing each muscle group in your body one at a time. Research suggests that this type of relaxation technique may help reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression and induce a state of physiological relaxation overall in undergraduate students, cancer patients, and other populations. Since symptoms of anxiety and depression are common in those with post-traumatic stress disorder, this strategy can be helpful for people with this diagnosis.

Role-playing with stressful situations

In this context, role-playing refers to simulating or imagining stressors or stressful situations in a controlled environment with your therapist so you can practice responding in a healthy way. You might focus on understanding what your normal reaction would be and then what it ideally should be. 

Because you’ll generally do this in a controlled, safe environment, it can be easier to think of what you should do and deploy the techniques you’ve learned. Then, when you are in real-life stressful situations that trigger stress, anxiety, and other intense feelings and emotions, knowing how to respond healthily may come more automatically to you.

Thought-stopping and thought-replacement

In the first phase of stress inoculation therapy, you may also learn to talk to yourself about what you're experiencing and what you're going to do about it. This self-talk may allow you to identify the negative, intrusive thoughts, behaviors, and feelings that you're experiencing and turn them into something more positive. Being able to identify negative thought patterns and stop them in their tracks can be crucial to managing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other conditions.

Building resilience

This may include exercises to help a person recover from stress such as having a positive perception and seeking support to adapt to difficult situations.

Positive self-talk techniques

Stress inoculation often includes positive self-talk where you learn to replace negative thoughts with words of affirmation. This training aims to reduce anxiety by controlling self-doubt and boosting your self-confidence.

When stress inoculation training can be helpful

If symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, or stress are interfering with your daily life, stress inoculation training may be helpful. Note, however, that it’s not right for everyone and every situation. It typically involves confronting situations that commonly trigger your symptoms and learning how to better address them. That means that for some people with PTSD, for example, this type of training may be more difficult to tolerate.

Other coping skills for PTSD

Other types of treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and related conditions include exposure therapy, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR), lifestyle changes, and medication, in some cases.

If you are experiencing trauma, support is available. Please see our Get Help Now page for more resources.

Getting professional support for post-traumatic stress disorder

In general, if you’re experiencing symptoms of depression, PTSD, anxiety and stress, or other mental health challenges—diagnosable or not—it can be helpful to meet with a mental health professional. They can suggest a personalized treatment plan based on your experiences, symptoms, and preferences.

Effects of online therapy on PTSD

Sometimes, symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, or other conditions can make it challenging to leave the house. In cases like these, online therapy can empower you to get the professional help you deserve from the comfort and convenience of your own home. 

Stress inoculation, a psychotherapy – or talk therapy – for PTSD and anxiety

Although there currently isn’t much research specifically focused on the efficacy of online stress inoculation training, studies investigating the effectiveness of internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy for PTSD and other conditions generally indicate positive results. For example, consider one study that suggests that online cognitive behavioral therapy can be as effective for treating PTSD symptoms as in-person therapy.