Common Emotional Symptoms of Focusing Your Attention On Your Problems

In human psychology, frustration is an ordinary emotional response to failure, irritation and rejection. Frustration arises when an effort is refused or thwarted and tends to rise when a planned course of action is blocked or denied. It can also be generated when the effects of failure are delayed but no due reason is given. Sometimes, the cause of frustration is the will of the one who has been foiled or thwarted.


Frustration occurs for a prolonged period as a result of inability to extract desired positive results. Different people have different ways of expressing or managing frustration. A person can experience frustration for short periods of time, while others may suffer from it continuously. People who experience prolonged frustrations are said to exhibit coping behaviors such as over-anxiety, depression, alcoholism and other addictions.

When we are frustrated, our body produces hormones such as nor epinephrine (Adrenalin) and serotonin (our happy hormones). When we are frustrated, these hormones help us cope up with our feelings of anger, frustration, and powerlessness. In fact, our brain generates chemicals of both anger and frustration in response to our frustrations and disappointments.

The symptoms of frustration are unpleasant to endure, especially when they are prolonged. They might include difficulty concentrating, irritability, losing patience, becoming moody and even experiencing physical symptoms such as headaches, back aches and indigestion. These symptoms can make a person feel hopeless and helpless. Frustration can have a serious impact on your health and quality of life. The following are some common emotional reactions to frustration:

It's easy to see why dealing with frustration can be such a challenge. Our body's first reaction is anger. However, it's important to remember that anger does not solve or complete problems. Controlling our reactions to frustration is the first step towards healing. If we can manage our anger and frustration in a healthy way, instead of exploding in rage, we can learn to cope better with our daily challenges.

When we allow our feelings to guide us rather than our logical thinking, it's easier to learn how to deal with our frustrations and disappointments. If we can learn to calm down and not snap when we feel upset or frustrated, these negative emotions will begin to ebb and flow with regularity, and go away with them. This will greatly reduce feelings of anger and frustration.

The good news is that with consistent effort, frustration can go away on their own. Unfortunately, this does take time, commitment and a little bit of practice. We all have things in our life that cause us frustration, and it's often best to try and deal with these issues in a healthy way. The best way to deal with these frustrating episodes is to focus on your goals, eliminate the stress causing the problem and resolve it in a positive manner. Once you are clear-minded again about your goals, and once you're doing your best to eliminate and control the frustration, then it will become much easier to see these goals through.


Some of the most common emotional symptoms experienced by those who experience frustration are sadness and/or feelings of helplessness. It's easy to lose sight of the objective or end goal in our efforts to move forward, to finish what we've started. If this happens, feelings of helplessness and sadness may set in. This is often a difficult emotion to manage, but it can be dealt with if we take a moment to redirect our attention. We can redirect our focus if we become aware that the feelings of helplessness and sadness are being generated by our frustrations rather than by what we're actually feeling. If we can shift our attention away from these feelings and recognize that our frustration is in fact in some way a source of power and hope for us, then we have successfully redirected our attention and are starting to feel less frustrated.