Stress & Coping Strategies: Course Contents
Stress & Coping Strategies: Course Contents
Stress & Coping Strategies: Course Contents
To develop an understanding the concept of stress its causes, symptoms and consequences.
To develop an understanding the consequences of the stress on one’s wellness, health, and work
performance.
Course Contents:
Module I: Stress (2 Hours)
Meaning & Nature
Characteristics
Types of stress
Suggested Readings:
Blonna, Richard; Coping with Stress in a Changing World: Second edition
Pestonjee, D.M, Pareek, Udai, Agarwal Rita; Studies in Stress And its Management
Pestonjee, D.M.; Stress and Coping: The Indian Experience
Module I: Stress
Meaning & Nature
Characteristics
Types of stress
Module I: Stress
Stress can be defined as actions and circumstances to which you cannot respond adequately or to
which you respond at the cost of excessive wear and tear on the body.
Stress is defined as “The adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure or other types of
demand placed on them”
Stress can act as a creative force that increases drive and energy, but once it reaches a certain
degree, the results can be negative.
Stress is normally experienced as fatigue, anxiety and depression. It is sometimes exhibited when
people become hostile and aggressive. These are all signs or symptoms of stress and the causes or
‘stressors’ need to be identified in the workplace and eliminated or controlled.
Nature
Due to inappropriate usage, the word stress has assumed bad connotations. In its original sense a
stress is neither good nor bad. It becomes good or bad, desirable or undesirable, healthy or
unhealthy depending upon what it does to us. For example, the demands of an examination could
make one child work hard and pass creditably. In the case of another child the very same
examination could appear very demanding and he might end up in a break down, as his resources
are poor. Thus by itself a stressor or a stress is neither good nor bad. They are neutral in nature.
CHARACTERISTICS OF STRESS
TYPES
DISTRESS
When a stressor becomes too demanding or when we do not have adequate resources to meet the
demands, we get ‘stressed up’. The stressed up experience is called a ‘Distress’. Distress is bad and
unhealthy. Prolonged distress initiates a number of reactions at the level of the body and mind. As it
depletes our resources we become impoverished and susceptible to diseases and disorders. The
child who has poor resources to write an examination falls ill. The executive who went on worrying
depleted his resources and developed hypertension. The housewife spent a sizable portion of her
resources to suppress her constant anger and ended up with bronchial asthma. Thus any stress that
becomes distressing is unhealthy.
EUSTRESS
When a stressor puts demand on our resources and we experience stress that need not always lead
to distress. If the stressor is within limits and we have enough resources we will be able to cope up
with the stress. When a stress makes us cope up with it, there is a feeling of satisfaction and joy.
Stresses that make us cope up with them culminate in better integration of our personality. Such
stresses are called ‘Eustress’ or useful stress. The child, who prepared well for the examination,
wrote it effectively and came out successfully experiences better self worth and increased self-
esteem. The examination though a stress had indeed beneficial effects on him. Such beneficial
stresses are required for our motivation and growth. No wonder it is then called a useful stress.
HYPER STRESS - Hyper stress results from being overloaded or overworked. When someone
is hyper stressed, even little things can trigger a strong emotional response. A Wall Street
trader is likely to experience hyper stress .Hyper stress can have significant effects on one's
health, both in the short term and also in the long term.
HYPO STRESS – Hypo stress is a type of stress characterized by boredom and restlessness. For
example, if you have a job and no one gives you any tasks, you could experience hypo stress,
where you get stressed about having nothing to do with your time.
When a person is subjected to stress, the body automatically prepares itself to respond – increase in
blood pressure, increase in stomach acids, increase in sweating, dilation of the pupils, etc. If the
stress passes, the body will return to normal. If the stress continues, the body will maintain its
preparedness to respond. If this continues too long, it will be harmful and the body will become
exhausted and collapse may occur.
Module II: Stages and Models of Stress
Stages of stress
The physiology of stress
Stimulus-oriented approach.
Response-oriented approach.
The transactional and interact ional model.
Person – environment fit model of stress.
There are three stages a person goes through while suffering from stress.
Alarm Stage: Look at a student's face just before he is going to give an exam. Isn't the fear and
tension clearly evident? When something has just started stressing you and you feel a fight or flight
kind of attitude, then you are in the alarm stage of stress. It is the start up stage which defines the
first reaction to the stressor.
Resistance Stage: When a child is sitting in the examination hall and writing his exam, he is bothered
about completing it in time. He is making full efforts to cope with the situation and his whole body is
engaged in fighting against the condition. This is the resistance stage. In this stage, the body keeps
making continuous efforts to cope with stress and therefore feels run down and exhausted. The
person starts feeling irritated, over reacts to minor situations and gets mentally and physically weak.
Psychological, physical and behavioral changes are also clearly visible.
Exhaustion
Stage: If a student is preparing for his exam and despite of every possible effort, he is not able to
relate to his studies, he is bound to get stressed. The stress could reach a height where he/she may
feel completely exhausted and helpless to the extent of committing suicide. This is the exhaustion
stage. This stage is further divided into two phases:
Initial phase: The stress persists and due to lack of appropriate measures the person is not
able to concentrate and work efficiently.
Burnout: The person is completely exhausted and drained of all energy reserves. There is a
complete physical, psychological and emotional breakdown. This requires immediate
attention.
The physiology of stress
While preparing for flight or fight response our body undergoes following changes:
Increased heart rate, blood pressure and respiration. Pumping more blood to the muscles,
supplying more oxygen to the muscles and heart-lung system.
Increased sugar rates in the blood. Allowing rapid energy use, and accelerating metabolism
for emergency actions.
Thickening of the blood - to increase oxygen supply (red cells), enabling better defence from
infections (white cells) and to stop bleeding quickly (platelets).
Sharpening of senses. The pupils dilate; hearing is better etc., allowing rapid responses.
Prioritising - increased blood supply to peripheral muscles and heart, to motor and basic-
functions regions in the brain; decreased blood supply to digestive system and irrelevant
brain regions (such as speech areas), this also causes secretion of body waists, leaving the
body lighter.
Secretion of Adrenaline and other stress hormones - to further increase the response, and to
strengthen relevant systems.
Secretion of endorphins - natural painkillers, providing an instant defence against pain.
Stimulus-oriented approach.
Stimulus-based definitions view stress as an independent variable that disturbs the individual: it
leads to distress.
This is the stimulus based model, i.e. the stimulus causes the stress but our response is the same
physiologically. Any perception of a stress stimulus triggers the body's physiological response. We
speak of being 'under stress’; the external event causes the stress. Managing stress comes down to
avoiding the stressor.
Response-oriented approach
Stress can be defined as dependent upon the person's response to the stressor. This is a more
negative way of looking at stress. The person is described as 'suffering from stress', 'feeling stressed'.
The individual is seen as having inadequate coping mechanisms. This internal reaction may also be
down to different personality type or cultural influence, but the management of stress is seen as
coming from internal change.
The most accepted way of looking at stress nowadays, is to use an interactionist approach. That is,
we may all be faced with the same external stressor (stimulus) but, the stress response that we
show, will depend on our individual differences or gender or culture. In other words, the phrase
'exam' is the same stimulus, but some of you will be feeling very worked up about the exam, others
will be more 'laid back'. The internal and behavioural response will be different for each of us.
Psychologists try to find out the factors affecting this interaction and stress management depends on
the perceived interaction and response.
The Person-Environment (P-E) Fit model, developed in the early 1970s , states that strain develops
when there is a discrepancy between the motives of the person and the supplies of the
environment, or between the demands of the job and the abilities of the person to meet those
demands.
Person-environment fit is the degree of fit, or match, between you and your work environment. The
theory behind person-environment fit is that everyone has a work environment with which they are
most compatible. The idea of PE is grounded in Kurt Lewin's maxim, the behavior is a function of
person and environment. Characteristics on the person side of the equation include interests,
preferences, KSAs (knowledge, skills and abilities), personality traits, values, and goals. The
environmental factors may include such things as vocational norms, demands of the job, job
characteristics, and organizational culture and values. The basic rationale of the theory is simple: if
you work in an optimally compatible environment, all sorts of good things happen, such as improved
work attitude, performance, and less stress.
Module III: Causes and symptoms of stress
Personal
Organizational
Environmental
Causes of stress vary from person to person. Some common causes of stress can be a death of a
family member, illness, taking care of your family, relationship changes, work, job change, moving
and money. Even small things such as long waits or delays or traffic can cause stress.
Personal
Finances; who name finances as the leading cause of stress cite major purchases they have
to make, such as a home or car. Others are stressed by a loss of income, or mounting credit
card debt. For some, financial stress will eventuate in bankruptcy. While college students
stress over paying for an education, Baby Boomers and older senior ci tizens find that
retirement income can be a major cause of stress.
Personal Health and Safety; For some, the stress is linked to obesity, and a desire to lose
weight. For others, the stress is a personal bas habit that affects health and must be
changed. For example, smoking, abuse of alcohol or other drugs. Illness or injury, whether
less or more serious, can be a leading cause of stress for many people. Personal safety is also
a leading cause of stress. Women, more than men, tend to stress about their own and
others’ safety. Adults tend to stress more than young people, who may act invincible.
Death; Probably the most wrenching cause of stress is the death of a loved one or close
friend. Even the death of a pet can be stressful.
Organizational
■ Control – such as how much say the person has in the way they do their work.
■ Support – such as the encouragement, sponsorship and resources provided by the organisation,
line management and colleagues.
■ Relationships – such as promoting positive working to avoid conflict and dealing with
unacceptable behaviour.
■ Role – such as whether people understand their role within the organisation and whether the
organisation ensures that they do not have conflicting roles.
■ Change – such as how organisational change (large or small) is managed and communicated in the
organisation. (HSE 2005)
All of the above risk factors appear often highly recognizable within the companies.
Employee Risk Factors: Stress can pose a significant risk to the individual in both mental and physical
health. Mental health risks include depression, anxiety and post traumatic stress disorders. Physical
risk factors include damage to immune and cardiovascular systems. Stress can also increase the risk
of other more serious ill health issues such as Heart Disease. As identified within the Management
Standards high demands within the job such as the working environment and workload are known
to be some of the highest risk factors which have proven to result in stress within any individual.
Employer Risk Factors: Risk factors for employers can be divided into four main categories these
being: Cost, Negative Public Relations, Legal Obligation/Criminal Prosecution and Civil Action by
employees. The risk factors above are often found within the organisations we have carried out
Stress Surveys for. Although employers do have demanding roles we often find that the most noted
form of stress within organizations is found because they have the inability to make significant
changes as ideas are often unsupported and change within the organisation is met with great
resilience.
Environmental
Physical
Noise
Hot environment
Cold environment
Poor lighting/too much lighting
Organizational Risk factors
Faulty equipment
Poorly designed and/or maintained equipment
Dangerous equipment
Heavy weights
We all have certain features to our personality that make us unique as people; however there are
many aspects of our personality that are similar to other people. These similar personality factors
are called Personality Traits. Research has indicated that certain personality traits can make us more
vulnerable to stress. People with such traits are known as Type A personalities. Type A's tend to be
more competitive, more impatient, have time urgency when compared to the more relaxed and laid
back Type B personalities. It's important to realise that we are all a mixture of type A and B
personality traits but if we are excessively type A this can make us more vulnerable to stress.
· Must get things finished · Do not mind leaving things unfinished for a
while
· Can't listen to conversations, interrupt, finish · Can listen and let the other person finish
others sentences speaking
·Trying to do more than one thing at a time ·Can take one thing at a time
·Want everything to be perfect ·Do not mind things not quite perfect
·If in employment, will often take work home ·If in employment, will limit working to work
hours
Job Burnout
Adverse effects of working conditions where stressors seem unavoidable and sources of job
satisfaction and relief from stress seem unavoidable.
State of emotional exhaustion
Depersonalization of individuals
Feelings of low personal accomplishment
High probability of burnout characteristics
High degree of job related stressors
Idealistic and self-motivating achievers
Seek unattainable goals
Organizational Stress
Participative Problems - a cost associated with absenteeism, tardiness, strikes & work stoppages, &
turnover
Performance Decrement - a cost resulting from poor quality or low quantity of production,
grievances, & unscheduled machine downtime & repair
Compensation Award - an organizational cost resulting from court awards for job distress
It may seem that there’s nothing you can do about your stress level. The bills aren’t going to stop
coming, there will never be more hours in the day for all your errands, and your career or family
responsibilities will always be demanding. But you have a lot more control than you might think. In
fact, the simple realization that you’re in control of your life is the foundation of stress management.
Managing stress is all about taking charge: taking charge of your thoughts, your emotions, your
schedule, your environment, and the way you deal with problems. The ultimate goal is a balanced
life, with time for work, relationships, relaxation, and fun – plus the resilience to hold up under
pressure and meet challenges head on.
These coping strategies may temporarily reduce stress, but they cause more damage in the long run:
Watch for signs of stress. When they occur, try to avoid the cause or change how you react. Other
helpful tips:
• Do something that relaxes you such as: deep and slow breathing, stretching exercises, yoga, a
massage, meditation, listening to music, reading, a hot bath or shower.
• Think positive.
• Eat a healthy diet that includes fruits, vegetables, protein and whole grains. Limit caffeine and
sugar.
• Exercise regularly. Exercise will help relax tense muscles, improve your mood and help you sleep
better.
• Do not deal with stress in unhealthy ways such as eating too much, not eating enough, using
tobacco products, drinking alcohol or using drugs.
• Get help from a professional if you need it. A counselor can help you cope with stress and deal
with problems. Your doctor may prescribe medicines to help with sad feelings, nervousness or
trouble sleeping.
The term “social support” often appears in discussions of relationships. Social support means
having friends and other people, including family, to turn to in times of need or crisis to give
you a broader focus and positive self-image. Social support enhances quality of life and
provides a buffer against adverse life events.
If you have ever tried to give up a bad habit, such as smoking, you probably realize just how
important social support can be. If your social connections do not support you, it can make
success much more difficult. If your friends and family offer support and encouragement, you
may find achieving your goal much more possible.
Understanding the determinants of human happiness and well-being is important in the quest for
ecological sustainability (and social justice), because it helps us decide how to best use the limited
material throughput available, and identify what other, non-material factors are important.