Professional Self Care: Stress Reduction and Relaxation

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Professional Self Care Stress Reduction and
Relaxation

• William F. Dougherty. Psy. D.

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Introduction

• What is Stress?
• Participants will learn various techniques to
  identify personal stressors and apply techniques
  to manage stress effectively.
• Background and interest of the audience.

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Agenda

• Stressors
• Signs and Symptoms of stress.
• Identifying and Managing Stress.
• Goal Setting and Time Management.
• Emotional aspects
• Coping Strategies
• Demonstration
• Biofeedback, Guided Imagry,Visualization, Sensory
  alteration and Dissociation.

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Physical Causes of Stress

• Lack of Exercise
• Diet refined sugar, caffeine, nicotine, sleep
  disturbances.
• Misuse of Medication
• Excessive Alcohol Use

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Family Stressors

• Behavior Problems with Children/Adolescents.
• Examples
• Health problems in Family Members.
• Death of a Family Member.
• Partner relational problems.
• Financial Issues
• Moving

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Job Related Stress

• Starting a New Job
• Retirement
• Too Much Work
• Poor Relationships with Colleagues
• Unclear Duties or Responsibilities.

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Physical symptoms

• Headaches, GI distress, back pain, fibromyalgia,
  TMJ.
• Overeating, loss of appetite, eyelid twitching,
  excessive sweating, inability to sleep.
• Hypertension, chest pains, excessive tiredness,
  chronic fatigue.

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Emotional Symptoms

• Mood Changes, concentration difficulties,
  anxiety, panic attacks, withdrawing from others.
• Anger, irritability, frustration and a low
  tolerance of others.
• Depression, Confusion
• Feelings of Helplessness, Restlessness, Racing
  thoughts.

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Behavioral Manifestations

• Procrastination
• Deteriorating personal appearance
• Apathy
• Overeating
• Negativity
• Boredom
• Our needs are not being met

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Goal Setting

• Understanding yourself at present Stage of life.
• What do you enjoy doing?
• Identify the most important things in life at
  present.
• Clear Specific Goals that are measurable and
  positively stated (I want to lose 10 pounds over
  the Summer vacation) rather than I dont want
  to be so fat.
• Develop Action Plan and Check progress.

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Time Management

• Self
• Career
• Relationships partner, children, friends
• A Balanced Lifestyle? (varies)
• Sleep Time (quality)
• Teaching (direct contact) Vs. preparatory and
  collateral contact.
• Necessities (personal household)
• Transportation time.
• Personal professional development
• Extracurricular activities

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Time Management

• The priority list most important to least
  important for day and week
• Scheduling Include all appointments
• Planner, PDA, or other method utilizing a To Do
  List
• Do the most important tasks when you have the
  most energy
• Eliminate or Reduce Time Wasters
• Finish one task before starting another. Dont
  get sidetracked.

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Emotions

• Understanding, Identifying, and Expressing .
• Coping Strategies
• Our Mental Health

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Emotions

• Anger a secondary emotion.
• Usually the following emotions precede anger
  disgust, confusion, fear, impatience, worry, and
  frustration.

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Defense Mechanisms or Coping Strategies

• Denial
• I dont have a problem! Nothing is wrong at all.
  Notice a persons non-verbal expression-They
  may even be smiling
• Denial can be useful in certain situations
• And harmful, when refusing to recognize an
  emotion or a problem becomes a problem!

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Defense Mechanisms or Coping Strategies

• Compensation
• I was never a good athlete, but I am a very good
  salesman.
• Compensation involves making up for weakness in
  one area by excelling in another area.

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Defense Mechanisms or Coping Strategies

• Rationalization
• Its no big deal I called in sick There are
  plenty of good substitutes.
• Rationalization involves making excuses for
  actions or feelings
• Examples?

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Defense Mechanisms or Coping Strategies

• Projection
• This isnt my fault. My administrator gave me
  the worst students.
• Projection involves putting your own faults onto
  someone or something else
• Examples?

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Defense Mechanisms or Coping Strategies

• Daydreaming
• Also known as fantasizing to escape unpleasant
  reality.
• You imagine you were in Bermuda even though it is
  winter in PA
• Other Examples?

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Defense Mechanisms or Coping Strategies

• Displacement
• Often includes blaming and transferring emotions
  from the original source to another
• Your are arguing with your spouse so you slam the
  bedroom door.

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WHAT IS BIOFEEDBACK?

• Biofeedback is a method for learned control of
  physiological responses of the body. These
  responses can be either in the voluntary system,
  such as skeletal musculature, or in the
  involuntary, or autonomic nervous system, such as
  heart rate, vascular responses (frequently
  indirectly measured as temperature), and
  sympathetic discharges (measured by the
  electrical skin response).

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HOW DOES AVS BIOFEEDBACK WORK?

• Auditory Visual Stimulation or AVS biofeedback
  equipment, comes in a number of forms and
  flavors. The most well-known and effective
  measure the brain's electrical activity and then
  pulse lights and sounds to control that activity.
  Such devices, through flickering lights and
  precisely controlled rhythmic tones, stimulate
  and synchronize the hemispheres of the brain
  while entraining the brain wave frequencies into
  desirable states of consciousness. The study of
  these brainwave patterns, the summation of the
  brain's electrical activity, as represented by
  electroencephalography EEG), has led scientists
  to the discovery that different brainwave
  patterns are associated with different states of
  awareness.

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HOW DOES AVS BIOFEEDBACK WORK?

• Four main brainwave patterns have been
  recognized
• Beta Waves 13 - 30 Hz Alert state
• Alpha Waves 8 - 12 Hz Relaxed
  wakefulness
• Theta Waves 4 - 7 Hz Imagery
• Delta Waves .5 - 3 Hz Deep sleep

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Biofeedback

• With the relief of tension/stress/resistance in
  the body/mind, the user becomes receptive to
  information from "inside" and "outside" essential
  to fundamental change. Spoken words during
  certain L/S session will embed in deep layers of
  the user's consciousness to change thoughts,
  feelings and behavior automatically. The
  clinicians digitally mastered voice has an
  amazing effect when combined with an individually
  developed AVS biofeedback program.
  Statistically, 72 percent of individuals
  receiving biofeedback are helped significantly
  20 percent moderately and 8 percent marginally.

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Biofeedback

• By stimulating balanced, abundant
  neurotransmitter production, expanding neural
  pathways, and programming desirable, ecologically
  sound behaviors, AVS biofeedback can enhance
  physical healing and homeostasis, intellectual
  performance (creativity/IQ attentional
  flexibility), and greatly improved sense of
  well-being long after the session.

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Biofeedback

• The state of deep rest and hemispheric balance
  possible with AVS technology can rejuvenate the
  body/mind and have lasting effects in every area
  of one's life. To understand how this technology
  works, individuals are encouraged to schedule an
  initial session with a clinician who is trained
  and certified in biofeedback applications. The
  first session generally will include gathering a
  complete history and reviewing school or medical
  records. A sample introductory session will be
  provided and the individual will experience the
  results. For additional information regarding
  AVS biofeedback, or to schedule an appointment
  please call Bill Dougherty directly at
  570-480-6140 for a personal response.

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References

• Bibliography Benjamin, John V., Biofeedback
  (1999) Carroll, Douglas, Biofeedback in Practice
  (1984) Green, Elmer and Alyce, Beyond
  Biofeedback (1989) Hatch, J. P., et al., eds.,
  Biofeedback Studies in Clinical Efficacy (1987)
  Jones, Marcer, Donald, Biofeedback and Related
  Therapies in Clinical Practice (1986)
  Richter-Heinrich, E., and Miller, N. E.,
  Biofeedback (1982).

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Stress Management Professional Self-Care

• Thank you and have a great day
• William F. Dougherty, Psy.D., CPS, NCP Clinical
  Office located at
• 1141 Clay Avenue, Dunmore, PAwww.drdougherty.org