Pull the Plug on Stress

Harvard Business Review July 2003

Dr Jagdish R. Vankar
Asst Prof in Psychiatry,
Pramukhswami Medical College,
Karamsad

Learning Objectives

About Stress
Causes
Symptoms
What can you do about it?
Seeking Help

Stress
Stress is the spice of life
Would you enjoy a life without
No runs, no hits and no errors?

Stress
Stress: Non-specific reaction of the body to any
change in ones environment
The change can occur in internal or external
environment
The reaction has physical and psychological
components
Stressor: An external event which brings about
stressful response

Videos

stress.wmv
stress2.wmv

Amygdala conditioning

Amygdala hijack

Amygdala hijack

Every time you feel

threatened, the
automatic fight-or-flight
response set offs, causes
release of cortisol the
stress hormone

Over the years, your

body has adapted to
living in a perpetual
state of stress

What do you think are the causes?

Some causes of stress

Academic Stressors
Interpersonal & Intra-personal Stressors
Social Stressors

Symptoms of being stressed out

Physical Symptoms
Changes in sleep or eating patterns
Muscular tension
Tiredness
Colds
High blood pressure
Indigestion
Fatigue

Symptoms of being stressed out

Emotional Symptoms

Lack of interest in studies

Depression
Anger
Fear or anxiety
Feeling overwhelmed
Mood swings

Cognitive Symptoms

Forgetfulness
Unwanted or repetitive thoughts
Difficulty concentrating

90/10 Principle

It will change your life (at least the way you react to
situations).

10% of life is made up of what happens to you. 90%

of life is decided by how you react.

Our Reactions Depend Upon

Our Attitudes
Perception
Negative self talk
Locus of control
Past experience

Lets Measure Our Locus of Control

Scoring the test

Score your answers to each of the questions

according to this key
strongly disagree
= -3
disagree somewhat = -2
slightly disagree
= -1
slightly agree
= +1
agree somewhat = +2
strongly agree
= +3

Scoring Sheet
Individual
Score

Attitude

Questions

Internal
Locus of
Control

1, 4, 5, 9, 18,
19, 21, and
23

Add 24

Powerful
Others

3, 8, 11, 13,
15, 17, 20,
and 22

Add 24

Chance

2, 6, 7, 10,
12, 14, 16,
and 24

Add 24

What can you do about it?

Big rocks of life
Freeze frame technique

Big rocks of life

Keep Priorities Straight - A Jar of Life-1.mp4

What are the big rocks in your life?

Exercise

Recollect in your mind

some image, event or
memory when you were
very happy
With these two things in
mind imagine you are
getting irritated with
something your friend
said now press your
emotional pause
button close your
eyes

Freeze frame technique

To stop the physiological chain reaction, you need to

find a way to manage your stress from moment to
moment and day by day using a technique called the
Freeze frame technique
When a scene becomes stressful, the technique allows
you to freeze that perceptual frame and isolate it in
time so you can observe it from a more detached and
objective viewpointsimilar to pausing the VCR for
a moment.

Harvard Business Review July 2003

Freeze frame technique 5 steps

Recognize and disengage.

Take a time-out so that you can temporarily
disengage from your thoughts and feelings
especially stressful ones.
Breathe through your heart.
Shift your focus to the area around your heart. Now
feel your breath coming in through that area and
out your solar plexus.
Invoke a positive feeling.
Make a sincere effort to activate a positive feeling.
Harvard Business Review July 2003

Freeze frame technique 5 steps

Ask yourself, Is there a better alternative?

Ask yourself what would be an efficient, effective
attitude or action that would de-stress your system.
Note the change in perspective.
Quietly sense any change in perception or feeling
and sustain it as long as you can.

Harvard Business Review July 2003

Seeking Help

Confide and talk with your friend or family

Mentors, Teachers
Dept of Psychiatry

Thank You For

Participating
Questions??