Managing Stress and Wellness

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Managing Stress and Wellness
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Stress

• The rate of wear and tear within the body (Selye)
• The anxious or threatening feeling that comes
  when we interpret or appraise a situation as
  being more than our psychological resources can
  adequately handle (Lazarus, 1999)

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Stress

• Eustresspleasant, desirable stressstrengthens
  us for immediate physical activity, creativity
  and enthusiasm
• Distressunpleasant, objectionable stresscauses
  us to constantly readjust or adapt

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Sources of Stress

• Life changesany life change, even if it is
  positive and anticipated, brings about stress
• Anticipated life events
• Unexpected life events
• Accumulating life events

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Sources of Stress

• Hasslessmall problems of daily living that
  accumulate and sometimes become a major stress.
• BurnoutPhysical, emotional, and mental
  exhaustion attributable to long-term involvement
  in emotionally demanding situations

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Cognitive Appraisal

• In order to feel stress we must
• Perceive there is some kind of demand or threat
  present
• Conclude that you may not have adequate resources
  available to deal with that threat

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Thought Stopping

• A method of controlling our thoughts developed by
  Joseph Wolpe
• When faced with unwanted thoughts, we learn to
  suddenly stop the thought pattern and empty our
  mind
• Then a positive thought is used to replace the
  unwanted thought.

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General Adaptation Syndrome (Selye)

• In the face of severe stressors
• Alarm reactionbody is mobilized to defend
  (sympathetic nervous system)
• Resistance stagearousal remains high as body
  tries to defend against and adapt to the stressor
  (cortisol)
• Exhaustion stageresources are very limited
  ability to resist may collapse

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Stress and the Body

• When under stress, the body responds to increase
  heart rate, available energy and heighten
  awareness.
• The body acts to release fat and glucose from the
  bodys stores in order to make this energy
  available to the body

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Stress and Serious Illness

• Cancerstress is linked to the development in
  cancer through the suppression of the immune
  system that accompanies release of cortisol
• Cardiovascular diseasein stress, the increased
  heart rate and release of fat and glucose into
  the bloodstream cause stress on the heart and
  fatty deposits of unburned fat may develop

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Personality Types

• Type Abehavior characteristics including intense
  ambition, competition, exaggerated time urgency,
  and a cynical, hostile outlook
• Type Bbehavior characteristics consistent with a
  calm, patient, relaxed attitude toward life

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Coping with Stress

• Copingactive efforts to master, reduce or
  tolerate the demands created by stress
• Emotion-Focusedcoping strategies based on
  changing ones perceptions of stressful
  situations
• Defense mechanismsunconscious strategies used to
  distort reality and relieve anxiety and guilt

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Defense Mechanisms

• Rationalizationproviding a socially acceptable,
  rational explanation for socially unacceptable,
  irrational behaviors
• Repressionthe exclusion of painful, unwanted or
  dangerous thoughts and impulses from the
  conscious mind

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Defense Mechanisms

• Projectionattributing our own feelings,
  shortcomings or unacceptable impulses to others
• Reaction Formationimpulses are not only
  repressed but also controlled by emphasizing the
  opposite behavior

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Defense Mechanisms

• Sublimationwe redirect our basic desires toward
  a socially-valued activity
• Displacementredirecting strong feelings from one
  person or object to another that seems more
  acceptable and less threatening.

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Gender and Stress

• Males tend to fight or flee
• Females tend to tend and befriend

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Hardiness

• Commitmentstrong sense of commitment to myself
  and my work, purposeful activity and problem
  solving
• ControlI see myself as being in control of my
  life rather than a victim of circumstances
• Challengechange is an opportunity for growth and
  improvement. I welcome the challenge because I
  welcome the growth

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Three Coping Options

• Change Environments
• Change the Environment
• Change Me

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The Power of Self Talk

• Albert EllisRational Emotive Behavior Therapyit
  is not the event which causes stress but rather
  our beliefs about the event that cause stress
• A B C
• Activating Event Beliefs Consequences
• Common Irrational and Rational Beliefs

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According to Ellis

• Irrational Beliefsresult in inappropriate
  emotions, behaviors and more stress
• Rational Beliefsresult in appropriate emotions
  and behaviorshelp the individual attain desired
  goals

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Characteristics of Irrational and Rational
Self-Talk

• Should statementsmake absolute demands or moral
  imperatives (ought, have to, must)imply that
  things in your world need to be as you want them
  to be
• Awfulizing Statementswe say that things or
  people are awful when they are not different
  than we think they should be
• Overgeneralizationswe make overgeneralizations
  based on a single incidentall, every, none,
  never, etc.frequently lead to human worth
  statements

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Disputing Irrational Beliefs

• Monitor your emotional reactions
• Describe the activating event
• Record your self-talk
• Dispute your irrational beliefs

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20 Tips for Managing Stress

• Work off stress
• Have fun
• Talk it out
• Give in occasionally
• Do something for others
• Have some real close friends
• Eat sensibly
• Get organized
• Rehearse
• Do it now

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20 Tips for Managing Stress

• Learn to say No
• Learn to accept what you cannot change
• Avoid self-medication
• Live a balanced life
• Get enough sleep or rest
• Make yourself available
• Shun the perfect urge
• Develop a regular exercise program
• Take care of yourself
• Learn to relax

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Relaxation

• Sit or recline comfortably
• Breathe deeply
• Slowly exhale
• If thoughts intrude, do not dwell on them allow
  them to pass and return to focusing on your
  breathing