Case Analysis: The Turn of the Tide

SYNOPSIS
The case talks about how an individual can tackle stress using different strategies.
ISSUES
The different issues that can be found in the case are:
1. Why is the Author facing stress?
2. How can he get rid of those stresses?
3. Has the coping strategies suggested by the doctor helped him to eliminate his stress?
CASE FACTS
The Author in this case is encountering stress for a long time. When he was tired of resisting the
stress, he went to the doctor in seek of help. The doctor asked about his happiest place as a child
and told him to go there and gave him four prescriptions. The author went to the summer cottage
at the beach, his happiest place as a child, and open first prescription in which it was written
Listen Carefully. The second prescription was Try Reaching Back, the third one was
Reexamine Your Motives and the last one was Write Your Troubles on the Sand. He
followed what was written in the prescription and felt a sigh of relief. The prescriptions helped
him to cope with his stress.
CONCEPTS & THEORIES
At first the author was in the alarming stage of the stress, where he thinks that his living style is
becoming stale and flat. He feared that his performance while doing the job is declining. He at
that point of time has developed some resistance but that became worse and he had to go to the
doctor.
The doctor suggested him enactive strategies to cope with his stress. The doctor suggested him
to go to a place where he has happy memories as a child. This is enactive strategy to cope with
the stress because; he is going to a new environment where the stress is not relevant. In this case,

the author is facing Situational Stressors i.e. his life has become monotonous and the work is not
anymore driving force for him. He thinks that his work has now become calculated and dead.
IMPLICATIONS
The stress faced by the author in this case has some serious implication such as his work
performance is deteriorating, he thinks that his life has become stale and flat, he has no
enthusiasm. The author hadnt been able to develop resilience strategy on his own. The author
was not sure about reason why he is facing this stress. Stress can lead to pathological results like
anxiety, depression mental breakdown etc. If he will not cope with the stress on time, his work
performance might decline further and he might face a situation of mental breakdown.
RECOMMENDATION
By far we know that stress can cause severe damage to people. It can affect personal life as well
as professional life of people. There should be effective coping strategy to encounter any stress.
In this case, the author is facing stress and he is in alarm stage. To cope with those stresses, he
can implement a series of things such as work redesign, collaboration at workplace, deep
relaxation techniques. Since he thinks that he is not productive at the work anymore, he can
redesign the work by making it more fun to do. He should change his motive towards the work.
The author must also make new groups at workplace, try to involve in group activities and
develop relationships with colleagues which will help him to remove the stress. He has already
performed the deep relaxation technique as suggested by his doctor. In addition to that, he can
use other deep relaxation strategies like meditation, yoga etc. which will give him piece of mind.