Your Brain Is Stressing You Out—Here’s How to Break the Cycle

Stress isn’t just about what’s happening around you—it’s about how your brain reacts. Clinical psychologist Jennifer Taitz reveals simple, science-backed strategies to reset your mind and break free.

You’ve got a lot going on right now—work, family, a seemingly endless to-do list, not to mention a crazy-making 24-7 news cycle. And that’s just the external stuff. Your brain, which should be an ally on these difficult days, often makes things worse by responding unproductively to the outside world. It spirals into worry, avoidance, or despair. The debilitating state of mind we call stress makes everything feel that much harder.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Clinical psychologist Jennifer Taitz has spent years studying what she calls the stress cycle and developed techniques for interrupting it. Using these science-backed methods you can stop stress before it starts, freeing up your brain to focus on the tasks at hand. Here are five key strategies she recommends: