STRESS MANAGEMENT

PRESENTED BY GURURAJ KULKARNI GUEST

FACULTY KARNATAKA POLICE TRAINING
COLLEGE GULBARGA.
WHAT IS STRESS?
MEANING OF STRESS:

 Stress is derived from the Latin word stringere which means

to draw tight, strain, to exert and strait.
 The term stress was first used as topic of scientific study in
the early part of the twentieth century in the works of
Cannon and Selye.
 During the nineteenth century, French physiologist Bernard
realized that it was important for the body to maintain a
relatively constant internal state while being challenged with
continuously changing external environment.
 In the twentieth century, American physiologist, Walter
Cannon used the term “homeostasis” in discussing the
complex processes that the body must perform to survive
and developed the idea of the flight or fight response.
 The flight or fight response commonly referred to as the
sympatho-adrenal response.
 It s the component of stress response that enables an
individual to act immediately to a stressor.
 Because the neurons in the hypothalamus area are activated
leading to the release of epinephrine from the adrenal
medulla.
 Lazarus and Folkman have provided one of the most generally
accepted relational definition of stress. “Psychological stress
is a particular relationship between the person and
environment that is appraised by the person as taxing or
exceeding his or her resources and endangering his or her
well-being.”
 According to Taylor, “Stress is the process of appraising events
(as harmful, threatening, or challenging) of assessing
potential responses and of responding to those events
responses may include physiological, cognitive, emotional
and behavioral changes”
SOURCES OF STRESS

 Stress mainly comes from two sources:

 From the outside world
 From within oneself
 From the outside world: Stress from the outside world or
environment comes in the shape of unexpected life events,
the tension of constant, unsatisfactory circumstances and
from daily hassles.
 From within oneself: Stress can also equally come from
internal sources, many of which are unintentionally self-
imposed.

From outside the world:
 Life events and ongoing circumstances
 Daily hassles
 Chronic strain
 A. Life Events and ongoing circumstances:
 It has been established that life events are precursors and at
least in part determinants of many physical and psychological
problems.
 B.Daily Hassles
 Stress also comes through daily hassles which are the little
problems of daily living that are not significant in themselves
but can pile up to become a major source of stress. They are
 Time pressures.
 Problem with family.
 Change in finances,
 Child care arrangements
 Longer work hours
 Divorce.
 C. Chronic Strain
 Chronic strain is a stressful experience that is a usual but
continually stressful aspect of life.
 It can happen because of number of reasons.
 A long term but unsatisfying relationship
 A work situation that is stressful.
 Long standing financial concerns.
INTERNAL SOURCES OF STRESS

 Internal stressors can come from an ill-maintained, sensitive,

or sick body, from faulty learning which results in problem
behaviors and habits, and also maladaptive patterns of
thinking and mistaken beliefs about oneself of one’s world.
 The Body
 Behavior and faulty learning
 Faulty Thinking
 By Biasing One’s Interpretation of everyday situation and
events.
 Erroneous and maladaptive beliefs.
 The Body.- it has long been recognized that the body has an
effect on the well-being of the mind.
 Major psychiatric illnesses- Schizophrenia, endogenous
depression and manic depression are recognized as being
related to changes in the body’s biochemistry.
 Other states such as premenstrual syndrome, menopause and
pregnancy can also influence psychological condition and
mood.
 Behavior and faulty learning: Behaviors such as driving,
cooking, expressing feelings, showing affection, dealing with
other people having fun are mainly learn by association by
consequences and by observation.
 Sometimes learning takes place but is maladaptive mainly
because of defective associations, problematic reinforcements
or unreliable observation
 Traumatic experiences involve high levels of anxiety and
generally lead to avoidance behavior.
 People can also learn inappropriate emotional responses
through observation.
 Faulty Thinking: If thinking is faulty, the consequences can be
extensive not only through how one responds but also
through how one reacts emotionally.
 Faulty Thinking can act as a stressor in two ways.
 By biasing one’s interpretation of everyday situations and
events.
 The people are the creators of their own moods and feelings.
 “Alphabet of the mind” will illustrate this.
 This alphabet consists of three letters, A, B, and C.
 “A” stands for Antecedent-an event.
 “B” stands for Blob or Blank-thoughts.
 “C” stands for Consequence-mood and feelings.
 When something happens(A)-people often find themselves in
poor or low meeds (C) later and they do not know why.
 Individuals can get into the habit of consistently
misinterpreting situations.
 Aaron Beck a well-known Americans psychiatrist has listed a
number of “Cognitive Distortions”, or common ways in
which people distort their reality and thus cause more stress
for themselves.
 Some of the cognitive distortions are overgeneralization,
selective abstraction and magnification and so on.
 Misinterpretation of any one situation can involve a number
of these distortions and hundreds of minor events and
situations constitute an average day. Therefore , the more that
people misinterpret the more they set themselves up for
further misinterpretations.
Erroneous and Maladaptive Beliefs

 This leads to unrealistic expectations of oneself and others

and in turn to emotional experiences such as frustration,
anger, disappointment and guilt.
Common signs of stress
 • irritable, aggressive, impatient or wound up • over-
burdened
 • anxious, nervous or afraid
 • like your thoughts are racing and you can't switch off
 • neglected or lonely
 depressed
 uninterested in life
 like you've lost your sense of humour
 a sense of dread
 worried about your health
 unable to enjoy yourself
How you might behave
 1. finding it hard to make decisions
2. avoiding situations that are troubling you 3. Snapping at
people
4. biting your nails
5. picking at your skin
1. unable to concentrate
2. eating too much or too little
3. smoking or drinking alcohol more than usual
4. restless, like you can't sit still
5. feeling tearful or crying
How you might be physically affected
1.shallow breathing or hyperventilating
2. you might have a panic attack
3. blurred eyesight or sore eyes
4. problems getting to sleep, staying asleep or having
nightmares
5. sexual problems, such as losing interest in sex or being
unable to enjoy sex
 6. tired all the time
 7. grinding your teeth or clenching your jaw 8. headaches
 9. chest pains
 10. high blood pressure
 11. indigestion or heartburn
 12. constipation or diarrhoea
 13. feeling sick, dizzy or fainting
SITUATION CAUSES STRESS
 Personal issues ;
 illness or injury
 pregnancy and becoming a parent
 bereavement
 long-term health problems
 organizing a complicated event, like a family holiday
 Friends and family:
 getting married or civil partnered
 going through a break-up or getting divorced
 difficult relationships with parents, siblings, friends or
children
 being a carer for a friend or relative who needs lots of
support
 Employment and study:
 losing your job
 long-term unemployment
 retiring • exams and deadlines
 difficult issues at work
 starting a new job
 Housing:
 poor housing conditions
 moving house •
 problems with neighbours
 Money:
 worries about money or benefits
 poverty
 debt
Stress Management Techniques
 There are some techniques which helps to manage stress.
They are:
1. Breath.
2. Freeze-Frame Technique.
3. Technique for Physical Tension
4. Technique for Racing Mind
Breath
 In breathing technique these following steps to be followed:
1. Deep Breathing
2. Abdominal breathing or 3 part breathing
3. Breath Counting
Deep Breathing
 Deep breathing is a simple but very effective method of
relaxation.
 It works well in conjunction with other relaxation techniques
such as
 Progressive Muscular Relaxation.
 relaxation imagery and meditation to reduce stress.
 To use the technique, take a number of deep breaths and
relax your body further with each breath
Abdominal breathing or 3 part
breathing:
 Place hands on belly.
 Hands should go out with your belly on inhale, in on the
exhale.
 Repeat until feeling relaxed.
 Alternative: start with abdomen and expand to chest and
shoulders, then reverse on exhale.
Breath Counting
 It may be helpful to count on inhale and exhale:
 5 seconds of inhale 5 seconds of exhale
 OR 4/7/8 Inhale for 4 seconds, Hold for 7 seconds, Exhale
for 8 seconds
Freeze-Frame! Technique
 Transforming Stress by Doc Childre this takes some practice
and works great for people that are able to visualize well.
 Step 1 SEE and PAUSE: Recognize the stressful feeling, see
it-visualize it, then pause it, like pushing the Pause button on
your DVD or taking a time-out!
 Step 2 HEART BREATH: Take a deep breath. Make a sincere
effort to Shift your focus away from the racing mind or
disturbed emotions to the area around your heart. Pretend
you’ve breathing through your heart to help focus your
energy in this area. Keep your focus there for ten second or
more.
 Step 3 RECALL and FEEL: Recall a positive, fun feeling or
time you’ve had in your life and attempt to re-experience it.
Focus on the feeling rather than the thoughts or visual image.
Activate the positive emotion.
 OPTIONAL Step 4 Using your intuition, common sense and
sincerity Ask your heart, what would be a more efficient
response to the situation you are Freeze-Framing, one that
will minimize future stress?
 OPTIONAL Step 5 Listen to what your heart says in answer
to your question.
Technique for Physical Tension
 Progressive Muscular Relaxation (PMR): Progressive
Muscular Relaxation is useful for relaxing your body when
your muscles are tense.
 The idea behind PMR is that you tense up a group of muscles
so that they are as tightly contracted as possible.
 Hold them in a state of extreme tension for a few seconds.
 Then, relax the muscles to their previous state.
 Finally, consciously relax the muscles even further so that you
are as relaxed as possible.
 By tensing your muscles first, you will probably find that you
are able to relax your muscles more than would be the case if
you tried to relax your muscles directly.
 Experiment with PMR by forming a fist, and clenching your
hand as tight as you can for a few seconds.
 Then relax your hand to its previous tension, and then
consciously relax it again so that it is as loose as possible.
 You should feel deep relaxation in your hand muscles.
 For maximum relaxation you can use PMR in conjunction
with breathing techniques and imagery.
Technique for Racing Mind
 The “Relaxation Response”:
 Try the following 6-step relaxation response from the book
called “The Relaxation Response,” by Dr. Herbert Benson the
next time you feel anxiety or stress:
 Sit quietly in a comfortable position.
 Close your eyes.
 Deeply relax all of your muscles, beginning at your feet and
progressing up to your face. Keep your muscles relaxed.
 Breathe through your nose.
 Become aware of your breathing.
 As you breathe out (exhale), say the word, “ONE”, silently to
yourself. For example: breathe IN…OUT, “ONE”, -
IN…OUT, “ONE”
 Breathe easily and naturally. Continue for 10 to 20 minutes
(depending on your schedule).
 You may open your eyes to check the time, but do not use an
alarm.
 When you finish, sit quietly for several minutes, at first with
your eyes closed, then with your eyes opened. Do not stand
up for a few minutes.
 Listen the binaural bits which help to get relaxation from the
stress state.