Stress Management

& Resilience
Arya Prasad
Visiting Faculty
22.11.2023
 Who am I?
Counseling Psychologist + Arts-Based Therapy Practitioner
Worked in an NGO and a private mental health organization
A Xavierite from 2014-2019
(Graduated with a BA in Psychology)
 What are your
expectations from
this class?
 Class Norms

01 02 03
Phones away Show up! Confidentiality
(unless I ask you to have Participate
them!)

04 05
Application in real Being Respectful
life To yourself and others
Understanding concepts
>> rote learning
 Course Overview
The ‘Stress Management & Resilience’ course is designed to make students aware of
the nature of stress and its effect on their quality of life.

By the end of this course, students will be able to identify stressors and strategies
(focussed on thinking, emotions, and behavior) to manage them effectively. Some of
these strategies will help prevent certain stressors and others can be used to manage
stress in the moment.

They will also identify ways to strengthen their own and their community’s sense of
resilience to adapt to difficult and stressful circumstances.

The teaching-learning experience includes activities for personal reflection and

application.
 Course Objectives
To normalize the conversation around experiencing and coping with stress in personal
and work contexts

To examine individual responses to and impacts of stress on self and work.

To demonstrate practical stress prevention and reduction strategies.

To apply key stress management strategies in the current academic context.

To expose students to resilience-building practices that can be employed in daily life.

 Course Outcomes
On completing the course, a student will be able to:

Describe the nature of stress, its sources, and its short and long-term impacts on
one’s body, thinking, emotion, and behaviour.

Describe the role of resilience and managing stress in maintaining personal and
professional well-being.

Identify and articulate stressors and their impacts on their work & personal lives.

Apply key strategies to prevent stress, strengthen resilience and reduce stress in work
and personal life.
 Understanding Stress & Resilience
1. Dimensions of Holistic Health & well-being
2. Nature, Sources, and Impacts of Stress
3. Responses to Stress, and Individual differences in the
same.
4. Introduction to Managing Stress and its importance
5. Resilience and its role in managing stress
 Managing Stress & Strengthening
Resilience
1. Common Strategies of Limited Value
2. Practices to prevent stress and strengthen resilience:
a. Thought & Perception-Based Strategies
b. Mindfulness
c. Emotion Focused Coping
d. Lifestyle Management Strategies (including Yoga)
e. Life and Work Management
3. Practices to Reduce Stress in the moment:
a. Relaxation [JPMR, Abdomen Breathing, Pranayam]
b. Time Outs, Humour, Music
 References
1. Davis, Stephen F.; Palladino, Joseph J. & Christopherson, Kimberly M.: Psychology. (7th ed.) Boston. Pearson
Education Inc., 2013. 978-0-205-84684-9--(150Dav)

2. Duffy, Karen Grover; Kirsh, Steven J. & Atwater, Eastwood: Psychology for living : adjustment, growth and
behaviour today. (10th ed.) Boston. Prentice Hall, 2011. 0-205-79036-4--(155.24Duf)

3. Feldman, Robert S.: Understanding psychology. (10th ed.) New York. Mcgraw-Hill, 2011. 0-07-122147-4--(150Fel)

4. Greenberg, J. S. (2002). Comprehensive stress management. McGraw Hill, New York

5. Nevid, J. S., Rathus, S. A.: Psychology and the Challenges of Life: Adjustment and Growth, 13 ed. Wiley, 2016.

6. Olpin & Hesson: Stress Management for Life: A Research Based Experimental Approach. 5th ed. Cengage
Learning, 2021. ISBN: 13:9780357363966

7. Schafer, W. (1996). Stress management for wellness. Harcourt Brace College Publishers.

8. Seaward, B: Managing Stress: Principles and Strategies for Health and Well-Being. 9th ed. Jones and Bartlett,
2017. ISBN: 13:9781284126266

9. Weiten, Wayne; Dunn, Dana S. & Hammer, Elizabeth Yost: Psychology applied to modern life : adjustment in
the 21st century. (11th ed.) Stanford. Cengage Learning, 2015. 978-1-285-45995-0--(155.24Wei)
Opening Acts!
Introduce yourself with
1. Your name
2. A stressor during the first
semester of college
3. How you cope with stress
Google
Classroom
https://classroom.google.com/c/NjQ
wNjQzMzI3NDY0?cjc=ncidjyq
I need you to do 3 things:
1. Join Google Classroom and keep checking
it!
2. Take notes (based on your understanding
and application) and participate.
3. Give me feedback!
What is stress,
according to
you?
 What is Stress?
Stress is a demand made upon the adaptive capacities of the mind
and body
3 important aspects
● Personal view, positive or negative impact
● Reaction to the event, rather than the event itself
● Demand on the body’s capacity
Stress is the body's response to any demand or pressure, whether it
is physical, psychological, or emotional. It is a natural reaction that
prepares us to face challenges.

Refer to Weiten et al. for details.

Stress Continuum
Stress Continuum

Refer to Weiten et al. for details.

Yerkes-Dodson Principle
 Yerkes-Dodson Principle
To a certain point, a specific amount of stress is healthy and useful.
Activation of the stress response is often essential for success and
high performance. But, when it exceeds one’s ability to cope, the
overload contributes to diminished performance, inefficiency and
health problems.
There's an optimal level of stress or arousal for peak performance.
Where are you on the Stress Continuum? (optimal levels?)
Reading before the next class:
https://health.cornell.edu/sites/health/files/pdf-library/understand
ing-managing-stress.pdf
Terminology
 Holistic Health
● Interconnectedness of various aspects of well-being
● Individuals are more than just their physical bodies.
● It is important to address multiple dimensions of health for overall well-being.
● Encompasses:
○ Physical
○ Mental
○ Emotional
○ Spiritual
○ Social dimensions.
● An imbalance in any of these dimensions will affect your health.
● Even broader definitions of health include occupational and environmental
dimensions

Refer to Weiten et al. for details.

Dimensions of Health
Body's physical well-being
(eg: Nutrition, exercise,
sleep)

Search for meaning,

purpose, and connection Recognizing, understanding,
to something greater and effectively managing
than oneself. Eg: personal emotions. Eg: developing
values and beliefs emotional resilience, coping
strategies

Quality of an individual's
relationships and social
interactions. Eg: healthy Person's cognitive and emotional
communication skills, social well-being. Eg: managing stress,
support networks developing adaptive thinking
patterns, seeking support
Origins of
Stress:
Nature vs
Nurture
 1. Read up
Cornell Uni’s handout + Holistic Health

2. Create groups of 5
Need a volunteer collate the list.
Thank you!
Understanding and
Assessing Stress
Arya Prasad
Visiting Faculty
13.12.2023
 Recap:
What do you remember from
the previous class?
Between nature and
nurture, which one is
more dominant in
causing stress?
 Nature vs Nurture
Genetic predisposition to stress:
● Influence an individual's
susceptibility to stress.
● Some may have a biological
predisposition that makes
them more sensitive to
stressors or affects their stress
response.
● Genetics alone do not
determine an individual's
stress levels, as environmental
factors also play a significant
role.
Environmental factors
● Eg: family dynamics, social
support, socioeconomic status,
and cultural influences
● Supportive relationships,
access to resources, and a
positive environment can
mitigate stress, while adverse
circumstances can contribute
to increased stress levels.
 Myth vs Facts
1. In an ideal world, there would be no stress.
2. What is stressful for me is stressful for you.
3. Only unpleasant situations are stressful.
4. No symptoms, no stress.
5. Stress is inevitable, so one can’t do anything about it.
 Nature of Stress
Stress is complex:
● Stress is an everyday event (routine hassles, cumulative
impact)
● Stress lies in the eye of the beholder (subjective
perceptions, primary & secondary appraisals)
● Stress may be embedded in the environment (ambient
stress)
● Stress may be self-imposed
● Stress may be influenced by culture

Refer to Weiten et al. for details.

Sources of stress
What are overall sources of stress for all of
us? Think in terms of categories and not
specific instances.
 Sources of Stress
Some common sources:

Time Management Home Environment

Personal Expectations Relationships
Family Life Physical Health
Finance and Employment Information Overload
Academic Demands Choices
Daily Hassles

Refer to Olpin et al. for details.

 Another way to consider sources of stress:
Frustration Internal Conflict
pursuit of goal is thwarted 1. Approach Approach
2. Approach Avoidance
3. Avoidance Avoidance
4. Double Approach Avoidance

Change Pressure
Aversive events (eg: illness) Pressure to perform
Positive events (eg: gaining a new family Pressure to conform (to others’
member) expectations)

Refer to Weiten et al. for details.

 Assessment structure for this course:
5 marks:
Individual Reflection Journal in class
● What did I learn today?
● How can I apply this to my life?
Outside of class: journaling
● Highs and lows
● Event and response.

15 marks:
Group Project Presentation (Tentative Date: 10th Jan, 2024)

30 marks:
ESE (MCQs/objectives)
 Group
Project
Presentation:
 Presentation:
● Slides should depict the sample demographics
● Typical stressors and preferred coping strategies should be
summarized.
● Insights gathered from working on this project are shared.
(Group insights on the subject matter and individual
insights on the personal experience.)
● Each group gets 10 mins to present to the class and 5 mins
for feedback from the class.
Marks for the project will be assigned based on:
● Content (stressors and coping strategies collated and
comparisons drawn between older and younger persons)- 5
marks
● Effectiveness of the oral and visual presentation to engage
the audience- 4 marks
● Creative visual representation/metaphor to depict stress 3
marks
● Relevant personal insights from the field experience and
group work (shared by each individual member)- 3 marks
Negative Marking may be given:
● To the group if their submission is late
● To individual members who did not contribute information
from their conversation with two family members
● To individual members who did not collaborate with the
group for the creative representation and the presentation
● To individual members who were absent during any of the
days of class presentations (because they have not
participated completely in the peer learning and feedback
process)
Assessing Stress
First step in developing a stress management
plan
Can use several tools:
● resting heart rate
● breathing pattern
● respiration rate
How we perceive and cope with events (rather
than the events themselves) determines the
stress experienced
(This exercise is not intended to be
diagnostic. It is a way to increase
awareness for informed action.)
Refer to Olpin et al. for details.
 Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)
Instructions:
This classic stress assessment instrument is a popular choice for helping us
understand how different situations affect our perceived stress. The questions in
this scale ask about your feelings and thoughts over the past month. In each
case, you are asked to indicate how often you felt or thought a certain way.
Although some of the questions are similar, you should treat each one singly. The
best approach is to answer them quickly. Don’t try to count the number of times
you felt a certain way. Instead, indicate the alternative that seems like a
reasonable estimate.

Refer to Olpin et al. for details.

Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)
 Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)

The scale considers your perception of the most important happenings in your
life.
 1. Read up
Understand all the topics covered in class.

2. Prepare for the

assignment

3. Begin journaling
And reflecting everyday
Thank you!