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Stress, according to the dictionary, is characterized as a mentally
or emotionally disruptive and upsetting condition that occurs in
response to adverse external influences which is capable of affecting
an individual’s physical and mental health, usually characterized
by increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, irritability,
and possibly depression. Peace and Healing would like to add that
it is a perceived adverse stimuli or influence. One can argue the
fact that stress does not exist. Psychoneuroimmunologists have concluded
that it is not necessarily the event that causes the stress, but
how one approaches the event. Carl Hammerschlag, M.D. from www.healingdoc.com
speaks extensively on this.
Stress is clearly a subjective perception that causes very objective
signs and symptoms that can also lead to very blatant disease states.
People are equipped with a variety of coping mechanisms to deal
with stress. Some are excellent coping mechanisms, and some very
poor. We do know that events that individuals perceive as stressful
do produce very real physiologic symptoms such as tachycardia, diaphoresis,
fine motor tremors, increased gastric acid, and an increased need
to urinate or defecate. These symptoms are classic for anxiety.
As the perceived stress becomes more frequent and an individual’s
coping mechanisms fail, individuals can fall into a depressive state,
which may include insomnia or hypersomnolence. Also, you see very
argumentative behavior with possibly explosive episodes.
Type A personalities, one can argue, deal with stress quite well
since they can multi-task so to speak, and have many things going
on at one time. However even Type A’s have difficulty at times
balancing all they have on their plates. All individuals including
Type A personalities, deal with stress differently. Some cope with
it well and some do not. When coping mechanisms are inadequate or
fail, stress may become symptomatic. That is the point individuals
frequently seek out treatment—when their levels of stress
begins to interfere with their activities of daily living and they
become somewhat dysfunctional at their daily job or in their family
life. One will see an increase in arguments at home among family
members, and argumentative situations that occur at the workplace.
As we will discuss in Stress Relief, it is not so much as the event
itself that is causing the stress, rather it is how individuals
cope with the stress. There are many techniques that can be used
to alleviate the symptoms. However if one does not learn how to
decrease stressful events, or increase their coping mechanisms with
respect to how they deal with the event, then all we are doing is
alleviating the current symptoms. Subsequently, the patient is not
learning anything at the time to completely alleviate the syndrome.
Stress Symptoms
Stress symptoms, from a psychological standpoint, can present as
depression, isolative behavior, distancing behavior, argumentative
behavior, irritability, spontaneous crying episodes, insomnia, and
hypersomnolence. Physical symptoms show up as tachycardia, diaphoresis,
nausea, increased urgency to urinate or defecate, increased flatulence,
fine motor tremors, coughing while sleeping, which can be secondary
to gastric acid or GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disorder), gastric
ulcers, and duodenal ulcers. Asthma attacks have frequently been
associated with stressful events.
Secondary effects of stress: In severe situations, if these physiological
symptoms are not taken care of, they can definitely increase the
risk for stomach cancer, episodes of suicide attempts, suicide ideation,
divorce, and poor relationships at the home and at the workplace.
Stress Relief
The treatment of stress and stress relief is a multi-factorial
approach. There are numerous sites on the Internet and individuals
out there who, when they target the treatment of stress, are literally
only targeting the symptoms. Meditation techniques as well as certain
medications definitely alleviate the symptoms and allow individuals
to feel like they are in control. However they are not addressing
how these individuals deal with or perceive a stressful event, and
we are not then modifying the behavior or teaching them anything.
The medication and the meditation techniques are literally a Band
Aid to decrease the symptoms one is feeling when they perceive stress.
This author is not suggesting that they not be implemented. They
should be implemented. However they should be an adjunct to having
the individual focusing and looking at what their coping mechanisms
are. Do they perceive the stressful event accurately? Are they distorting
it, embellishing it or blowing it out of proportion? What can they
do as they approach an event they perceive as stressful, to approach
it differently than they have in the past?
There are hundreds of self-help books out there, and there are
hundreds of friends, peers, and family members who feel they have
the answer and know how to take care of your situation. It is this
author’s experience that by doing that, frequently one becomes
confused and actually becomes stressed out from so many different
types of advice and so many treatment modalities. If the stress
advances to the point where it has reached physical symptoms or
disrupts your life, you definitely need to seek a professional who
has a multi-faceted approach for treatment. For this author, the
multi-faceted approach would include spiritual, physical, and psychological
modalities.
The coping mechanisms we use to deal with stress are definitely
learned in part from our parents and upbringing, and how they dealt
with stress. Whether they were successful or unsuccessful is somewhat
irrelevant. We do take what we learn from them and we apply it.
As we begin to mature, if the coping mechanisms we use tend to be
successful, we should hopefully implement those and keep those in
our repertoire. If they are not and fall short, then we will fail
when stressful events occur, and become more symptomatic.
Old habits that we have learned are hard to break. We need to be
willing to looking into the mirror and acknowledge what we are doing
that is not helpful to our own bodies and to our daily routine.
Once we are able to do that, we can definitely venture into new
territories and become much more successful at alleviating the perceived
stress in our lives.
Good luck and explore many options.
Workplace Stress
Workplace stress is somewhat different than other stressful events
that we perceive. Part of the reason for this is that we need to
work and we need to go to our job daily. We feel somewhat forced
into that situation since we have to bring home a paycheck and continue
to pay our bills, and hopefully have some money left over to perform
some type of recreational activity to de-stress, if you will. If
we allow the stress at our workplace to become too great, we then
decompensate, displayed by either aggressive episodes, acting out,
or alienation of your peers at work and/or it is taken home and
it disruptive your home life.
There needs to be an area of sanctuary where one can go to be at
peace. This can literally be in your vehicle, on your way back and
forth from work. It can be at your home. But this is necessary in
order to de-stress. Many individuals have stressful jobs. People
who work in the field of psychology, in psychiatric hospitals or
in forensics, on the police force, and healthcare workers may experience
particularly intense cases or situations, after which they need
to de-stress. There are literally de-stress meetings, where individuals
sit around in groups and discuss episodes that have occurred, what
they have learned or what they can do better the next time. Or in
the event of a death on the job, there would be group discussions
regarding how that event has affected them. This has been shown
to be very, very effective, and also that process allows individuals
to feel closer to each other individually and as a team. We can
use this same analogy in any workforce. In Japan, they use a very
similar method in terms of de-stressing in corporations. They have
found these methods to be very effective. It facilitates teamwork
and allows for greater productivity on-site.
Problems become more persistent when a team leader or boss is perceived
in a certain situation as less than caring, unwilling to not only
be a team player, but also unwilling to recognize the stress that
other employees may be experiencing. When this occurs, one then
feels very alienated and isolated. So how does one de-stress at
the workplace, or approach the workplace in a way that they can
work more efficiently and get along with their peers? This is very
complex and depends on your role at the workplace.
- Reframing is a great technique, where one actually reframes
in their head their job and their job duties. This does not mean
they change their job duties, this means that in their head, they
have some type of phrase or statement they are stating to themselves
that gets them through the day. This usually works in the short
term, but does not work in the long term, but can get you through
a certain perceived stressful event.
- Remembering back to when you first got your position or your
job. You may have been very excited at that point in time. Try
to remember those feelings and how excited you were about obtaining
the position that you have, and obtaining a paycheck. Again, this
is usually very transient, but does help to get one through a
stressful moment.
- It is strongly advised to talk to a professional counselor
or therapist in terms of how to approach your boss. There are
numerous effective ways that individuals can present issues that
are non-threatening and effective. Surprisingly they can have
a good outcome and actually may elicit change.
- Remember, everyone always has choices. This is very important.
After a few of the abovementioned tasks have been tried and you
feel they have failed or fallen upon deaf ears, and you feel that
your life is going no where and you are extremely stressed with
the job you have, apply for different positions or elsewhere. Many
times, a change in a job, perhaps every 5-7 years, can be a very
healthy move. Statistics do show that when individuals do change
jobs every 5-7 years, on average they increase their salary anywhere
from 5-15%.
The difficult boss. At some point in their lives, everyone has
had a boss who is perceived as not being altruistic, grossly condescending,
usually very narcissistic and self-absorbed. A few points to remember.
These individuals have reached their level of achievement usually
in their third or fourth decade of life because they have been very
successful at what they have been doing, and they may have been
putting people way down on the list in order to achieve their financial
success. With that in mind, YOU ARE EXPENDABLE. Secondly, you are
mostly likely not going to change that individual’s personality.
In their eyes, they have been successful with their personality
based on where they have gotten, and there is no use fighting this
war. You will lose the battle if you attack and point out to the
boss their shortcomings. It is not uncommon for these individuals
to be socially inept. That does not mean they are not successful
in other areas of their lives. Many of the interventions we have
discussed in treating stress in general are effective in treating
stress in the workplace. The dynamics are somewhat different, and
one needs to recognize all the aspects of workplace stress before
one falls into a depression and impulsively quits their job.
Remember, never quit a position without having something to fall
back on. A safety net is extremely important. Individuals who impulsively
quite their jobs usually end up falling right back into a very stressful
pattern, which leads into depression and low self-esteem. Give it
24-72 hours to think about a large change of this nature. Please
talk to an objective counselor or therapist.
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