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We’ve
probably all felt stress. Sometimes it’s
brief and highly situational, like being in heavy
traffic. Other times, it’s more persistent and
complex—relationship problems, an ailing family
member, a spouse’s death. And sometimes, stress
can motivate us to accomplish certain tasks. The more
connected we get in this dot.com world the more we
are assaulted with pressure. While at first we tough
it out and "white-knuckle" our way through,
eventually the wear-and-tear takes its toll.
Hardiness is the ability to minimize
the harmful effects of stress and to transform a perceived
threat into a challenge. With this skill difficult
times become opportunities for growth. Individuals
can learn that they can make choices and positively
affect the course of the current challenge.
Do you sometimes experience:
Increased feelings of discouragement.
Frequent irritation with work colleagues,
family or friends.
Actual withdrawal, manifested psychologically
and/or behaviorally, from contact with social or work
settings.
Obsessions with and fantasies about
looking for a new life by leaving your current work
and/or family relationships.
Feeling threatened, inadequate, or
powerless.
Physical pains with no apparent cause.
Physical disorders such as high blood
pressure, gastric distress, poor sleep, etc.
Dangerous Stress “Distress”
Stress becomes dangerous when it interferes with your
ability to live a normal life for an extended period
of time. You may feel “out of control”
and have no idea of what to do, even if the cause
is relatively minor. This in turn, may cause
you to feel continually fatigued, unable to concentrate,
or irritable in otherwise relaxed situations. Prolonged
stress may also compound any emotional problems stemming
from sudden events such traumatic experiences in your
past, and increase thoughts of suicide.
Natural reactions
Stress can also affect your physical health because
of the human body’s built-in response
mechanisms. You may have found yourself sweating
at the thought of an important date, or felt your
heartbeat pick up while watching a scary movie. These
reactions are caused by hormones that scientists believe
helped our ancestors cope with the threats and uncertainties
of their world.
If the cause of your stress is temporary, the physical
effects are usually short-term as well. In one study,
the pressure of taking exams led to increased severity
of acne among college students, regardless of how
they ate or slept. The condition diminished after
exams were over. Abdominal pain and irregularity have
also been linked to situational stress. The
longer your mind feels stressed, however, the longer
your physical reaction systems remain activated. This
can lead to more serious health issues.
Physical wear and tear
The old saying that stress “ages” a person
faster than normal was recently verified in a study
of women who had spent many years caring for severely
ill and disabled children. Because their bodies were
no longer able to fully regenerate blood cells, these
women were found to be physically a decade older than
their chronological age. Extended reactions to stress
can alter the body’s immune system in ways that
are associated with other “aging” conditions
such as frailty, functional decline, cardiovascular
disease, osteoporosis, inflammatory arthritis, type
2 diabetes, and certain cancers.
Being stressed has very real physical consequences.
What is clear is that excessive stress can
worsen existing risk factors such as hypertension
and high cholesterol levels. It can lead
to headaches, back aches, poor sleep, irritability,
skin problems, gastrointestinal issues, and many more
physical disorders. It can also exacerbate health
problems such as chronic pain, asthma, diabetes, and
many more. In addition, being ill can in itself be
a stressor and interfere with our coping ability.
Pressure points
Studies show that people who are quick to anger or
who display frequent hostility—a behavior common
to those under stress—have an increased risk
of heart disease. Feelings of despair that accompany
stress can easily worsen into chronic depression,
a condition that can lead you to neglect good diet
and activity habits. This, in turn, can put you at
a greater risk for heart disease, obesity, and kidney
dysfunction.
Stress can also complicate your ability to recover
from a serious illness. A Swedish study found that
women who have suffered heart attacks tend to have
poorer chances of recovery if they are also experiencing
marital stressors such as infidelity, alcohol abuse,
and a spouse’s physical or psychiatric illness.
“Distress” is the adverse emotional and
physical reactions that individuals have to what appears
to be overwhelming sources of pressure in their environment.
The underlying physiological response to stress is
the same for everyone, but some individuals will get
ulcers, others will abuse alcohol and drugs and some
will become angry and irritable with their family
and/or colleagues.
Reducing Your Distress
Learning to deal with stress effectively is a worthwhile
effort, even if you already consider yourself capable
of handling anything life sends your way. Many of
the most common long-term stressors—family illness,
recovery after injury, career pressures—often
arise without warning and simultaneously.
Many medical conditions create and are exacerbated
by stress. It is critical to understand the role stress
plays in coping with your medical condition. It's
not "all in your head", but your head and
your emotions are what suffer along with the rest
of your body. Through understanding the feedback process
that exists in the Mind/Body connection you can dramatically
reduce the level of suffering you experience.
Identifying Sources Of Distress – Stress
Questionnaire
Mark the following questions based upon how often
you experienced the issue in the past month, including
today.
0-Never, 1-Almost never, 2-Sometimes,
3-Fairly often, 4-Very often
W
0 1 2 3 4 How often do you find yourself overwhelmed
by your workload?
0 1 2 3 4 How often do you find yourself scrambling
to meet a deadline at work?
0 1 2 3 4 I’m leaving out important tasks at work
because I’m overwhelmed by fighting fires and
helping others.
Total ___
R
0 1 2 3 4 Do you worry that you fight too much with
a partner or family member?
0 1 2 3 4 How often do you lose patience with a partner
or family member?
0 1 2 3 4 Are you expected to put your family’s
or partner’s needs ahead of your own?
Total ___
A
0 1 2 3 4 Most of what happens in life is just meant
to be.
0 1 2 3 4 When I experience a stressful event I can’t
get it out of my thoughts.
0 1 2 3 4 When I’m upset about something I try
to distract myself so I don’t have to think about
it.
Total ___
P
0 1 2 3 4 I get under thirty minutes+ of moderate exercise
three times per week.
0 1 2 3 4 I quite often feel physically in pain and
don’t know why.
0 1 2 3 4 I do not perform daily meditation or relaxation
exercises.
Total ___
M
0 1 2 3 4 In the last week I found myself feeling down
or depressed.
0 1 2 3 4 Lately I have noticed I seem “jittery”,
worried, or fearful for no reason.
0 1 2 3 4 I don’t seem to get any pleasure from
things I do.
Total ___
D
0 1 2 3 4 I have been feeling tense and easily irritated.
0 1 2 3 4 I feel like I can’t do anything right
anymore.
0 1 2 3 4 I feel like I can’t cope anymore.
0 1 2 3 4 I have been feeling down or depressed.
0 1 2 3 4 I have been having difficulty thinking clearly.
Total ______
Interpreting Your Scores
The D - Distress section indicates
your overall level of discomfort. While you may only
have one or two areas of your life which are not functioning
optimally, this can upset you in all phases and much
of the day.
Average: 0 to 6 points
Moderate: 7 to 10 points
High: 11 to 14 points
Severe: 15+ points
The other categories, W - Work, R
- Relationships, A - Attitudes and
Self-Talk, P – Physical, and
M - Mood, will pinpoint the origin
of the Distress. The higher your scores in each area
the more that is the source of your discomfort. Begin
your Stress Reduction Program by focusing on the area
with the highest score.
Three Primary
Approaches To Reducing Distress
First line defenses for Distress are Exercise, Relaxation,
and Coping Strategies. If you learn and practice all
three you will be well on your way to managing whatever
physical problems you are experiencing.
1.
Exercise
In addition to the direct physical-health benefits of
physical activity, several studies suggest that engaging
in physical activity or exercise programs can also benefit
emotional well-being. Multiple studies indicate that
physical activity improves mood and reduces symptoms
of depression and anxiety (DISTRESS!). Individuals diagnosed
with major depression undergoing an aerobic-exercise
intervention showed significant improvements in depression
comparable to participants receiving psychotropic treatment.
Moreover, individuals in the aerobic exercise condition
had significantly lower relapse rates than participants
in the medication group. Other evidence suggests that
consistent physical activity may prevent the onset of
depression.
Among healthy older adults, resistance training
has been associated with improved mood states. McLafferty
and colleagues[31*] conducted a study examining the
effects of a 24-week resistance training program with
three weekly meetings. Following the program, participants
reported significant improvements in total mood scores,
as well as reductions in confusion, anger and tension.
Similarly, physical activity has been reported as a
correlate of positive mood among women. In a study evaluating
predictors of mood among women who had recently started
a walking program, in addition to social support, physical
activity was significantly associated with greater positive
mood.
Others have investigated the effects of less conventional
physical-activity programs. West and colleagues evaluated
whether alternative physical-activity programs had an
effect on psychological well-being. Results showed that
participants randomized to two physical-activity programs
had significant reductions in perceived stress
and negative affect. Other studies have evaluated the
extent to which physical activity can buffer age-related
cognitive declines. Among 766 women aged 70-81 years,
higher levels of physical activity were associated with
better overall cognitive performance. Women in the highest
physical-activity quintile of the sample displayed a
20% lower risk of developing cognitive impairment.
2. Relaxation
Paradoxically, learning how to de-stress takes some
effort. The more "wound up" you are the harder
it is to learn, because this skill is the exact opposite
of what you instinctively do. The goal is to learn to
turn off the "Fight/Flight" response. Briefly,
this is the mechanism that gives you instant energy
in times of physical danger. Unfortunately, our bodies
can't tell the difference between real physical danger
(a mugger attacking you) and threats to our ego (criticism
from the boss, being overdrawn on your checking account,
etc.) We rarely face actual physical threats, but stressors
of the second type are constant. This results in what
we experience as "Distress".
Relaxation exercises will take you on the first stage
of learning to reduce your physical tension. This is
a crucial skill in mastering your body's Fight/Flight
response. Once you have mastered this skill you can
use it often to refresh your body and spirit. You won't
always need to go through the entire exercise, once
you have mastered the skill you will be able to close
your eyes and go directly to the relaxed state. Do this
frequently, whenever you realize your body is tense.
The Fight/Flight Response is triggered whenever we perceive
a threat to our well being. Our bodies can't tell the
difference if the threat is physical or emotional, so
it will activate at the slightest provocation. Unfortunately,
our world is filled with these provocations so we will
often experience the response. The effect of this is
cumulative and destructive. This exercise turns off
the response, (you can't be tense and relaxed at the
same time), so as to help your body heal and recover
from the damage it experiences from our pressured world.
Do-It-Yourself Relaxation
The player shown above will allow
you to listen to two different relaxation exercises.
Each one takes about fifteen minutes. Try each one and
then use the one you like the most frequently. After
you have listened to them several times you will have
learned how to elicit the relaxation response on your
own. Do this frequently throughout the day to calm your
self and heal from the daily damage done to you by our
stressful world.
Biofeedback is the next level in learning to tame our
body’s physiological state of arousal. By using
sensors attached to various parts of our body we can
monitor our autonomic reactions. Reading our pulse is
a simple form, but we can also measure the electrical
resistance of our skin or our muscle tension. Biofeedback
is often done in a professional office, but you can
do it at home as well. A simple and fun system has been
developed by Deepak Chopra and others and is a great
home system that interfaces with your computer. Click
on the banner below to learn more about the Wild Divine
Biofeedback Program.
3. Developing Effective Coping Strategies To
Transform Distress
The first step is to identify those issues you want
to target for improvement. List five stressors that
challenge your ability to cope with them.
Stressors:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
We all use both effective and ineffective strategies
to withstand the pressure of stressors. Coping is best
defined as efforts to master conditions of harm, threat
or challenge in the work milieu. Regarding the above
five stressors, list five methods you have previously
used to attempt to deal with them:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Two general types of coping styles are typically used.
They are transformational coping and regressive coping.
Transformational coping involves altering stressful
events so they are less stressful. To do this, individuals
must take decisive actions to change stressful situations
so that they become less stressful. Transformational
coping skills are usually called into action before
a stressful situation causes excessive strain. Transformational
coping provides an effective buffer against stress.
Stressful events are kept in perspective and dealt with
in an optimistic manner, which decreases strain by neutralizing
the stressful events. Through decisive actions, the
individual alters the situation surrounding the stressful
event so that the intensity and duration of the strain
is reduced. Thus, the individual avoids stress-induced
illness and loss.
Regressive coping is characterized by withdrawal,
avoidance and emotionalism. Individuals who favor regressive
coping strategies usually have a pessimistic outlook
on life and work. Stressful events are seen as terrible
disruptions and as unavoidable, unmanageable, and unchangeable.
Regressive coping does not effectively ward off the
diseases of stress. In fact, the use of many regressive
coping strategies (e.g., internalizing problems) can
actually cause illness rates to increase. Regressive
coping does little to cut down the intensity of stress
and even less to curtail the duration of stressful episodes.
Hence, regressive coping is usually undesirable.
Transformational Coping Styles
Confront the source of stress and problem-solve it
rather than avoiding dealing with it because it makes
you too uncomfortable. Stay optimistic and confident
you can resolve the issue as opposed to being pessimistic
and fearful. Take decisive action to create change
in the situation.
Transformational Coping Skills
Behavioral
and Interpersonal
Confronts sources of stress
Takes decisive action to change stressor
Manages time and delegates
Remains task oriented
Negotiates solutions
Helps others cope
Seeks help and asks for advice
Uses social support networks
Gathers information
Proactively manages resources
Motivates employees
Retains control over staff
Uses effective planning
Shows persistence
Exercises and relaxes
Maintains healthy lifestyle |
Mental and
Emotional
Stays optimistic and confident
Finds positive aspects in situation
Changes self
Selectively ignores source of stress
Thinks rationally
Accurately appraises problems
Remains problem focused
Assumes responsibility for actions
Maintains positive view of self
Employs problem-solving strategies
Tolerates and welcomes change
Acknowledges and expresses feelings
Exhibits self-control
Remains patient
Focuses on present and future
Keeps problems in perspective |
Regressive
Coping Strategies
Avoids sources of stress
Withdraws and isolates self
Drinks or uses drugs to relax
Blames others
Gives up
Cuts off communication
Keeps problems to self
Becomes overly dependent on others
Exhibits aggression and hostility
Participates in gripe sessions
Avoids staff and superiors
Unsupportive of staff
Acts out at work
Reactively manages resources
Punishes staff
Complains
Becomes unproductive |
Behavioral
and Interpersonal Mental and Emotional
Remains pessimistic and fearful
Intolerant of change
Thinks irrationally
Inaccurately appraises problems
Devalues self and others
Becomes overly fatigued
Internalizes problems
Denies or minimizes problems
Engages in self-blame
Becomes excessively angry
Becomes apathetic
Focuses on negative aspects in situation
Fantasizes about leaving company
Avoids responsibility
Becomes impatient
Catastrophizes problems
Gets ill or injured |
Personal Assessment of Coping
Styles
Now review the five coping methods you listed that
you have previously used to address the stressors
that concern you. For each one, decide if it is primarily
transformational or regressive.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Transforming Adversity Into Advantage – Generating
Eustress
Drs. Salvatore Maddi and Suzanne Kobasa identified
a personality characteristic called “hardiness,”
which helps individuals cope with pressure to prevent
stress-induced diseases and loss. The concept of Hardiness
has been developed over a twenty year period of application
and research. Beginning as a comprehensive stress
management program, it has evolved into a dynamic
approach which has been proven to enhance well-being
and performance in every field to which it has been
applied. Hardiness is designed to help individuals
cope with extreme demands such as chronic illness
and maximize their performance in high demand environments.
Hardiness has achieved an overall 40% decrease in
burnout and anxiety, a 35% increase in job satisfaction
and loyalty, a 25% increase in productivity and effectiveness,
a 40% reduction in health insurance benefits utilization,
and a 30% reduction in sick leave.
“Hardy” individuals have three traits
which provide a buffering or protective effect against
stress. Analysis of all data revealed that hardy individuals,
as opposed to stress-prone managers, were found to
be more committed to family, friends and their
jobs; they had a greater sense of control over
what occurs in their lives and their jobs; and they
experienced life pressures as challenges. Moreover,
hardy individuals chose more effective coping
skills.
Dr. Pammenter has studied with the Hardiness Institute
and has been working with these techniques for over
fifteen years. Read the linked articles for more information
about his work.
Hardy, resilient individuals also learn how to go
beyond focusing on their distress and begin to develop
Eustress, that place of optimal functioning when
they are in the “flow”, feeling strong,
positive, energetic and happy.
The “Youstress”™ (Eustress)
Program
More than just managing stress, the “Youstress”
Program takes you to the next level of life satisfaction.
You will focus on becoming Hardy, Healthy, and Happy.
The "YouStress" program builds on the work
of Hardiness and adds the principles of Positive Psychology
which focuses on developing your strengths and finding
happiness. To begin the comprehensive "YouStress"
program call Dr. Pammenter and make an appointment,
you will soon be on your way to moving from Distress
to YouStress!
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