[verganileonardo]

Look, there are two ways to approach this.

1) Physical source

The source could be physical, so you should go to an orthodontist to get a professional perspective. I've heard of people doing a minor surgery to solve the problem.

2) Emotional source

The source could also be emotional, as you mentioned. Then, you should seek professional help (from a therapist) to learn how to deal with the stress you are feeling. This could mean simply rewiring how you deal with stress, exercising more often or take medicine.

Sometimes, you simply need to pay attention to how physically tense you are due to work and try to relax your whole body.

I suffer from the bruxism as well and I got significantly better by going to therapy.

[graeme]

Thanks! How does therapy help?

My stress seems to manifest mainly by muscle tension. I don’t really have what you would describe as anxious thoughts.

I’ve managed to reduce stress by focussing on my breathe, and relaxing certain muscles if I notice them tensing. This seems to happen when I’m deep in thought.

But I don’t really worry about things, have racing thoughts, or anything like that. Can therapy help this kind of situation?

[jodrellblank]

> "I don’t really have what you would describe as anxious thoughts."

Dr David Burns (Cognitive Behavioural Therapist) talks about this in some of his Feeling Good podcast episodes, patients who say they don't have anxious thoughts. His position is that they do[1], but they aren't aware of them.

One of his ways to identify them, is to get the patient to identify a specific time or event when they were anxious and tense (e.g. walking into a meeting, etc.), and draw a cartoon character in the same situation with a thought bubble, and then has the patient come up with any reasons why somebody - anybody - in that same situation might possibly be feeling anxious about anything. They do.

"... and are you feeling any of those things?" "yes, that's exactly how I'm feeling".

He's described it at least twice in different episodes, as a very simple but effective way to dig out the thoughts people have, that they aren't aware of having.

[1] His approach to therapy is based on the idea that life events lead to thoughts which create moods; people who have unhelpful thoughts get stuck in unbalanced moods; methods to identify and change the thoughts is what changes moods and "cures" people.

[verganileonardo]

Awesome example! Thank you

[verganileonardo]

I'm not an expert, but therapy helps in understanding why we react the way we react.

It could help you answer:

- What I feel when I'm deep in thought?

- Why I manifest muscle tension in those periods?

I would give it a try for 3-4 months.