Stress

Management

CURRICULUM OUTLINE

STRESS MANAGEMENT
Session Duration: 1h-1.5h

Introduction of Topic
Signs and types of
stress
Methods to cope with stress
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Management

Objectives
● Understand the concept of Stress Management
● Methods to cope with stress

Pre-reading for Mentor

1. Lesson Plan on Stress Management For College Students (reference)

Pre-reading for Mentee / Assignments Due

1. Read up about either one of the following topics, and present your views for 10
minutes along with a powerpoint presentation or a short note on the same
a. Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict
b. Ziegarnik effect

Session Flow
Action Item Time

10 min
Mentee to present views on the pre-researched topic
along with a Powerpoint presentation or note

1 10 min
Discuss on the following topics - (content provided)
a. What is Stress?
b. Signs and Symptoms

2 30 min
Discuss on the following topics - (content provided)
Methods of Coping with Stress
a. Stress Diary
b. Meditation
c. Create Stress-Free Surrounding
d. Inverted U Model

3 15 min
Activities

4 Session Wrap-up: reflect on what 5 min

a. You Did
b. You Learnt
c. You found interesting
d. Questions about content
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5 Session Feedback Post Session

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What is Stress?
The most commonly accepted definition of stress is that stress is a condition
or feeling experienced when a person perceives that “demands exceed the
personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize.”
In short, it’s when we think we’ve lost control of events.

Signs of Stress
Everyone reacts to stress differently. However, some common signs and symptoms
of the fight or flight responses include:
● Frequent headaches.
● Cold or sweaty hands and feet.
● Frequent heartburn, stomach pain, or nausea.
● Panic attacks.
● Excessive sleeping or insomnia.
● Persistent difficulty concentrating.
● Obsessive or compulsive behaviors.
● Social withdrawal or isolation.
● Constant fatigue.
● Irritability and angry episodes.
● Significant weight gain or loss.
● Consistent feelings of being overwhelmed or overloaded.

Types of Stress
Dr Karl Albrecht, a management consultant and conference speaker based in
California, is a pioneer in the development of stress-reduction training for business
people. He defined four common types of stress in his 1979 book, "Stress and the
Manager."
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Albrecht's four common types of stress are:

● Time stress - You experience time stress when you worry about time,
or the lack thereof. You worry about the number of things that you
have to do, and you fear that you'll fail to achieve something important.
Common examples of time stress include worrying about deadlines or
rushing to avoid being late for a meeting.

● Anticipatory stress - Anticipatory stress describes stress that you

experience concerning the future. Sometimes this stress can be
focused on a specific event, such as an upcoming presentation that
you're going to give. However, anticipatory stress can also be vague and
undefined, such as an overall sense of dread about the future, or a
worry that "something will go wrong."

● Situational stress - You experience situational stress when you're in a

scary situation that you have no control over. This could be an
emergency. More commonly, however, it's a situation that involves
conflict, or a loss of status or acceptance in the eyes of your group. For
instance, getting laid off or making a major mistake in front of your
team are examples of events that can cause situational stress.

● Encounter stress - Encounter stress revolves around people. You

experience encounter stress when you worry about interacting with a
certain person or group of people – you may not like them, or you
might think that they're unpredictable. It can also occur if your role
involves a lot of personal interactions with customers or clients,
especially if those groups are in distress. For instance, physicians and
social workers have high rates of encounter stress, because the people
they work with routinely don't feel well, or are deeply upset. This type of
stress also occurs from "contact overload":
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when you feel overwhelmed or drained from interacting with too many
people.

Methods of Dealing with Stress

1. Stress Diary
2. Meditation
3. Create Stress-Free Space
4. The Inverted U-Model
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STRESS DIARY Time: 10min

Template for Creating a Stress Diary

Mentee and Mentor should have downloaded the template for this session.
● Note down all the events that occur and the different types of stress
that you
experience during that occurrence.
● Analyze the feeling during each stressful event
● Highlight frequently occurring stress and then with the help of the
diary identify the situational pattern causing this.
● Also, understand the level of pressure wherein you can be the happiest.
● Read Article for better understanding of Stress Diary

Meditation

● It is often possible to feel stressed out in our work space which

affects our both our physical as well as our mental health in a
negative manner.
● Meditation is one the oldest techniques that have been adapted in
various
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work space across spectrums by individuals.

● It is said to relieve stress and energize your body and mind periodically.
● This could involve the basic technique of choosing a calm place, sitting
firm yet relaxed and taking deep breathes for at least 5-10
minutes.

Stress-Free Space

Work Space stress can come from any physical conditions that you perceive
as irritating, frustrating, uncomfortable or unpleasant. These variables can be
altered according to your needs, which include:-

● Improve the lighting

● Avoid loud background noise
● Clean and uncluttered office space are a few

The Inverted U Model

The Inverted-U model (also known as the Yerkes-Dodson Law), was created
by psychologists Robert Yerkes and John Dodson as long ago as 1908. It
shows the relationship between pressure and performance.
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According to this model, most individuals

● give their best performance when they are under moderate levels of
pressure. This is where they enter the “flow” wherein they are sufficiently
motivated to work hard.
● Whereas, their performance level drops when they are under high or
low levels of pressure.

The Four Influencers

The shape of the inverted -U curve shown in figure is for illustration only - in
reality, the shape of the curve will depend on the situation and the
person itself.
There are four main influencers that can affect this. They are:
- Skill Level
- Personality
- Trait Anxiety
- Task Complexity

ACTIVITIES
This Module consists of activities and handouts that can be practiced for coping
with stress. One of the activities include:-

Creating Affirmations Time 10mins

An affirmation is simply a statement of what you want. They are most

effective if they are personal, positive and in the present tense. Also they need
to be practiced, so try saying them several times a day, out loud if
possible.

Here are a couple of

examples: I am healthy.
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I work well with many different kinds of

people. I have friends who love me.
I try hard.
I am a loving son, daughter, etc.
Now you write 3 positive affirmations for yourself. Remember – personal, positive
and present tense!

1.

2.

3.

Mentor and Mentee to go through this and decide on activities that are suitable
for them. It might take at least 10 mins to go through them. Activities could
also be divided through the week for mentee as tasks.

FURTHER READING
1. Dealing with difficult people
2. Job Analysis
3. Burn-out self-test
4. TED TALK with a different perspective about stress - how it can be
helpful more than harmful (video)

REFERENCES
1. Mind Tools