Stress Management/ Reaction Module 5 SLP - Essay Example

Stress Management The word stress is used when a person has to manage more than he or she can take it. It may refer to physical or mental stress. Inboth cases, the person may be overloaded by work or may be by problem situation. The crux of the matter lies in the way the person manages stress. Stress may be explained as a force which poses as a challenge to the well-being of a person. There are many signs or symptoms which a person may experience while going through stress. These may be increase in the blood pressure level, sleeplessness and other sorts of problems.

Stress not only affects the body but also the mind and a person’s behavior. It is important that a person recognizes the fact that he or she is going through stress and follows steps which will help in reducing the stress. Other than these, there are a lot of work related stress management techniques. Mainly focusing there are three strategies to cope up with stress. These are as follows: 1. Cognitive strategies – these are the ways to reinforce positive feelings in order to cope with stress.

Bringing about positive changes can help a person to lighten the stress that he or she experiences. Laughter therapy is one of the most effective coping techniques are to go for the laughter therapy. Laughter helps to reduce stress. Another technique to deal with stress is to provide positive reinterpretation. 2. Action based strategies – these are techniques which are used in order to effectively bring down the level of stress. It is usually followed in most work places. Some of them are focused on individuals whereas some choose to deal with the relationship between the individual / organization interface and some others focus on the organization structure.

It is very important to carefully monitor the success of the plan once it is formulated and implemented. In case the plan does not success, changes must be made to it to deal effectively with stress (DeFrank & Cooper, 1987). 3. Emotion based strategies – The emotion based strategies are also effective in coping with stress. Relaxation and meditation is a great stress buster. Other emotion based strategies in the work place help in effectively dealing with stress (Bond & Dunce, 2000). These may be formulated by formulating and implementing some stress buster programs.

Many offices have started providing a gym area. They even hire trainers who may help in conducting meditation or yoga. These exercises are a great stress reliever and help to calm the mind. Psychosomatic illness: It is very difficult to distinguish psychological and social illnesses from biological ailments. Psychological issues may arise due to psychiatric diseases which may be viewed as undesirable display of behavior. Stress may be the result of such behavior (Kimball, 1982). Past experience of certain factors which has previously induced severe stress makes an individual experience psychosomatic illness.

This is a kind of illness which happens when an individual undergoes severe stress over a period of time. An individual may need to consult a certified medical practitioner who will first diagnose the illness by viewing the symptoms displayed in the patient. The patient may have to undergo some tests to confirm the presence of such disorders. Accordingly treatment and prognosis measures will be suggested so that the person can heal from the ailment. Connection between stress and health: The recent connections have linked stress as a precondition to negative health.

A number of health issues have been explored by medical and social researchers recently. These include major changes in life (death of spouse, divorce or child death), helplessness and depression, role strains and personality factors (Watson & Pennebaker, 1989). Mood dispositions are also a result of severe stress and may cause stress related ailments. Negative and positive emotional factors are also a determinant of such ailments. Negative emotions like guilt, anger, disgust, scorn and depression also results in mood upswings which in turn causes stress.

These emotions may physically affect a person’s health as the person may experience coronary diseases like high blood pressure and other psychological ailments. To conclude, more and more people are afflicted with stress related ailments. Hence, it is very necessary to effectively handle and cope up with stress. If a person feels extreme stress over a certain period of time, then the person must consult a medical practitioner. References: Bond, F.W. & Dunce, D. (2000) Mediators of change in emotion-focused and problem-focused worksite stress management interventions, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, vol. 5, pp. 156 – 163.

DeFrank, R.S. & Cooper, R.S. (1987) Worksite stress management interventions: Their effectiveness and conceptualization, Journal of Managerial Psychology, vol.2, pp. 4 – 10. Kimball, C.P. (1982) Stress and psychosomatic illness, Journal of Psychosomatic Research, vol. 26, pp. 63 – 67. Watson, D. & Pennebaker, J.W. (1989) Health complaints, stress and distress: Exploring the central role of negative affectivity, Psychological Review, vol. 96, pp. 234 – 254.