Stress management

Clinical: Approaches · Group therapy · Techniques · Types of problem · Areas of specialism · Taxonomies · Therapeutic issues · Modes of delivery · Model translation project · Personal experiences ·

Lightmatter paperwork — A cluttered environment with too many tasks can lead to stress.

Stress management encompasses techniques intended to equip a person with effective coping mechanisms for dealing with psychological stress.

Definition of stress: Stress management defines stress precisely as a person's physiological response to an internal or external stimulus that triggers the "fight-or-flight" reaction.

Important Theoretical Foundations

Early Work

Cannon and Selye used animal studies to establish the earliest scientific basis for the study of stress. They measured the physiological responses of animals to external pressures, such as heat and cold, prolonged restraint, and surgical procedures. Then, they extrapolated from these studies to human beings. Subsequently, early studies of stress in humans by Richard Rahe and others established the view that stress is caused by distinct, measureable life stressors, and further, that these life stressors can be ranked by the median degree of stress they produce. Thus, stress was traditionally conceptualized to be a result of external insults beyond the control of those experiencing the stress. More recently, however, it has been argued that external circumstances do not have any intrinsic capacity to produce stress, but instead their effect is mediated by the individual's perceptions, capacities, and understanding.

The Transactional Model and Coping Skills Training

For example, Lazarus and Folkman suggest that stress can be thought of as resulting from an “imbalance between demands and resources” or as occurring when “pressure exceeds ones perceived ability to cope” (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). Stress management then is premised on the idea that stress is not a direct response to a stressor. Rather, one's resources and one's ability to cope mediate the stress response and are amenable to change, thus allowing stress to be controllable.

In order to develop an effective stress management programme it is first necessary to identify the factors that are central to controlling stress, and to identify the intervention methods which effectively target these factors. Lazarus and Folkman’s (1984) interpretation of stress focuses on the transaction between people and their external environment. This Transactional Model potentially empowers the individual on which stressors act by conceptualising stress as a result of how the stressor is appraised initially and how the individual appraises his/her resources to cope with the potential stressor. This model breaks the stressor-stress link by proposing that if stressors are perceived as positive or challenging rather than a threat, and if one is confident that s/he possesses adequate rather than deficient coping strategies, stress may not necessarily follow the presence of a stressor.

This model proposes that helping stressed individuals change their perceptions of stressors, and providing them with strategies which help them cope with stressors and feel confident in their ability to do so, will reduce their stress.

The Health Realization/Innate Health Model

The Health Realization/Innate Health (HR/IH) model of stress agrees with the Transactional Model that stress does not necessarily follow the presence of a so-called stressor. But instead of focusing on the individual's appraisal of so-called stressors in relation to his or her own coping skills, HR/IH focuses on the nature of thought, arguing that it is ultimately people's thinking that determines how they respond to potentially-stressful external circumstances (Sedgeman, 2005). In this model, stress results from appraising oneself and one's circumstances through a mental filter of insecurity and negativity, whereas a feeling of well-being results from approaching the world with a "quiet mind," "inner wisdom," and "common sense" (Mills, 1995).

This model proposes that helping stressed individuals understand the nature of thought--especially providing them with the ability to recognize when they are in the grip of insecure thinking, disengage from it, and access their natural positive feelings--will reduce their stress (Mills, 1995).

Need for stress management

It is now an accepted fact in the medical community; according to recent research, that stress is one of the major causes of all illnesses. Stress can cause migraines, stroke, eczema, a weak immune system, and many other diseases. Stress is also known to cause medical complications during pregnancy for both the mother and the child. Hence, there is a growing need for stress management.

Techniques of stress help

self-understanding (e.g. self-identification as a Type A or as a Type B personality)
cognitive therapy
self-management (e.g. becoming better-organized)
conflict resolution
positive attitude
self-talk
autogenic training
breathing
progressive relaxation
masturbation
meditation
hypnosis
exercise
diet
rest
stress balls
therapeutic massage
laughter

Some techniques of time management may help a person to control stress. For example:

becoming more organized and reducing the generation of clutter
setting priorities can help reduce anxiety
using a "to do" list of tasks that a person needs to complete can give a person a sense of control and accomplishment

Effective stress management involves learning to set limits and to say "No" to some demands that others make.

Digital Thermometers

Since stress activates the body's defense mechanism, blood is frequently drawn away from the extremities and to the torso when a stress attack occurs. Digital thermometers (digital because they measure finger temperature) can be used to detect a person's level of stress. Note that the actual temperature is not the most important characteristic, but rather the change in temperature. ^{[How to reference and link to summary or text]} Using this knowledge has proven useful in designing treatment for prevention and control of stress attacks. This technique was pioneered by Dr. Claudio Zapata. ^{[How to reference and link to summary or text]}

Bower, J. E. & Segerstrom, S.C. (2004). Stress management, finding benefit, and immune function: positive mechanisms for intervention effects on physiology. Journal of Psychosomatic Research 56(1): 9-11.
Cannon, W. (1939). The Wisdom of the Body, 2nd ed., NY: Norton Pubs.
Lazarus, R.S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, Appraisal and Coping. New York: Springer.
Mills, R.C. (1995). Realizing Mental Health: Toward a new Psychology of Resiliency, Sulberger & Graham Publishing, Ltd. ISBN-10: 0945819781
Ogden, J. (2000). Health Psychology (3rd Edition). Open University Press: Buckingham.
Rahe RH, Arthur RJ. (1978). Life change and illness studies: past history and future directions. J. Human Stress, 4(1): 3-15.
Rahe RH et al. (1972). Psychosocial predictors of illness behavior and failure in stressful training. J. health Soc. Behav. 13(4): 393-97.
Rahe RH, Mahan JL, Jr. Arthur RJ. (1970). Prediction of near-future health change from subjects' preceding life changes. J. Psychosom. Res. 14(4): 401-6.
Rahe RH et al. (2000). The stress and coping inventory: an educational and research instrument. Stress Medicine 16: 199-208.
Sedgeman, J.A. (2005). Health Realization/Innate Health: Can a quiet mind and a positive feeling state be accessible over the lifespan without stress-relief techniques? Med. Sci. Monitor 11(12) HY47-52. [1]
Selye, H. (1950). Stress and the general adaptation syndrome. Br. Med. J. 4667: 1383-92.
Spence, J.D., Barnett, P.A., Linden, W., Ramsden, V., Taenzer, P. (1999). Lifestyle modifications to prevent and control hypertension. 7. Recommendations on stress management. The Journal of the Canadian Medical Association,160(Suppl 9):S46-50.12365525Ṇ

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Stress management

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