Stress Management

Agustine Mahardika MD., Psych

Department of Psychiatry
Medicine Faculty Mataram University
 Objective

• Understand Definition, causes and

symptom of Stress
• Understand coping strategies that
increase resilience to promote productive
living.
 What is stress?

S=P>R
Stress occurs when the pressure is
greater than the resource
 Is All Stress Bad?

 Moderate levels of stress may actually improve

performance and efficiency

 Too little stress may result in boredom

 Too much stress may cause an unproductive anxiety

level
 Is All Stress Bad?
• Good Stress helps you stay focused, energetic,
and alert by helping you rise to meet
challenges; presentation at work or sharpens
your concentration when you’re attempting to
complete work projects.
• Unhealthy stress cause major damage to your
health, mood, productivity, relationships, and
quality of life.
 Stress
• A “stressor” : any event or stimulus that
causes stress
• Eustress : Manageable Stress can lead to growth
and enhanced competence
• Distress :Uncontrollable, prolonged, or
overwhelming stress is destructive.
• Acute Stress : Immediate response to a threat or
challenge
• Chronic Stress : Ongoing exposure to stress
 STRESS FEELINGS

• Worry
• Tense
• Tired
• Frightened
• Elated
• Depressed
• Anxious
• Anger
Stress Awareness

Cause Symptoms How to

manage stress

How do you respond to stress?

Cause
Causes of Stress
Common External Factors of Stress
• Major life changes
• Relationship
difficulties
• Financial problems
• Trauma
• School
• Work
• Family
• Health/illness
• Environment
• Living Situation
 Common Internal Causes of Stress

• Feelings of anger, fear and chronic worry

• Anticipation
• Negative self-talk
• Unrealistic expectations/Perfectionism
• Rigid thinking, lack of flexibility
College Student
• College is a transitional time of life with a new and
unique stressors.
• Away from home for the first time and forced to be
more self-sufficient
• increasing demands of the academic environment.
• Changes in sleep and eating habits
• increased financial responsibilities
• having to share living space and possessions with
strangers
• reduced access to their traditional support systems,
such as family and long-time friends.
it is important for college students to increase
their awareness about stress, the impact that
excessive stress can have on physical and
mental health, and various coping strategies
and techniques available to help cope with the
challenges of the college environment.
Symptoms
Symptoms of Stress
 Burnout
• Pessimism
• Increase dissatisfaction
• Inefficiency at the job
• Guilt
• Irritability
 Cognitive
• Memory problems

• Inability to concentrate

• Poor judgment

• Seeing only the negative

• Constant worrying
 Emotional
• Moodiness
• Irritability or short temper
• Agitation, inability to relax
• Feeling overwhelmed
• Sense of loneliness and isolation
• Depression or general unhappiness
 Physical

• Aches and pains • Chest pain, rapid

heartbeats
• Diarrhea or
constipation • Frequent colds

• Nausea, dizziness
 Behavioral

• Eating more or less

• Sleeping too much or too little

• Isolating yourself from others

• Procrastinating or neglecting responsibilities

• Using alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs to relax

• Nervous habits (e.g. nail biting)

Common Stress Associated Diseases
• Diminished • Anxiety
Immunity • Depression
• Headache • Alcoholism
• Fatigue • Substance abuse
• Weight gain • Insomnia
• Dyslipidemia • Irritable bowel
• Hypertension syndrome
• Heart Disease • Fibromyalgia
• Psoriasis/Eczema • Decreased sex
• Digestive problems drive
• The effect stress will have depends on how we
handle or view the situation.
• Handling stress depends on us:
– Recognizing the stress
– Understanding where it is coming from
– Understanding our stress management options
How to manage
stress
How to manage stress?
 Stress Management Techniques
• Identifying Source of Stressor
• Coping & Resilience
• Religion & Spirituality
• Social Support
• Signature Strengths
 Coping & Resilience

Coping Resilience

• The ability to bounce

• Ability to control
emotions back
• Ability to perceive • The positive capacity to
reality cope with stress
• Ability to think • Provides resistance to
rationally
negative events
• Ability to problem solve
 Coping
Adaptive Coping
– Contribute to resolution of the stress response

Maladaptive Coping
– Strategies that cause further problems
 Promote Adaptive Coping
• Realistic expectations
– Set realistic goals
• Planning
– Anticipate problems, have a backup plan
• Calm And Focus
• Reframing
– Change the way you look at things
• Relaxation
– Learn relaxation techniques, take time-out for leisure
• Discuss the problem
– Utilize existing social supports to problem solve
 Promote Adaptive Coping

• Learning Exercise
• Nutrition
– Eat healthy, avoid skipping meals
• Exercise
– regular exercise
• Sleep
– Get adequate sleep—avoid fatigue
Avoid Maladaptive Coping
• Avoidance/withdrawal
• Negative attitude
• Anger
• Alcohol/Drugs
• Hopelessness
• Negative self-talk
• Violence
Promote Resilience Factors
• Positive Role Models
• Optimism
• Altruism
• Religion & Spirituality
• Social Support
 Positive Role Models
Transmit:

• Attitudes

• Values

• Skills

• Patterns of thoughts and behaviors

 Optimism
• Positive Beliefs
– Cognitive reframing
– Positive thinking
– Refute the negative thinking
– Believe in a meaningful cause
 Altruism
• Unselfish regarding the welfare of others
• Believe in a meaningful cause
• Mutual cooperation
– Activates of the brain’s reward center
 Religion & Spirituality
• Associated with psychological and
physical well being
• Guards against despair
• Provides social support
• Provides positive role models
• Provides a positive mission
 Social Support
• Social support has a profound effect
on life expectancy
• Patients have better outcomes with
strong social support
• Isolation and poor social support are
associated with a poor stress
response
• Few hardy individuals “go it alone”
 Signature Strengths
• Recognize skills and talents
– Inventory strengths

• Use your strengths and talents

– Decide what works
 Review
• Stress is part of everyday life
– It can promote growth and competency
– If unrelenting or overwhelming it can cause
adverse effects
• Adaptive coping enhances resilience
• Maladaptive coping causes additional
problems
 Review: Practical Tips
• Set realistic expectations
• Exercise regularly
• Eat healthy
• Get adequate sleep
• Maintain a work-leisure balance
• Positive Reframing & optimism
• Enhance social support
 Learning Exercise
1. List your current sources of stress.
2. Conduct an inventory of coping strategies
that you use or have used in the past.
– Include maladaptive strategies

3. List your signature strengths and factors

that may enhance your resilience.
4. While considering the above, develop a
personalized stress management plan to
enhance your coping and resilience.
There is No Health without Mental
Health