STRESS MANAGEMENT

Objectives
 Discuss nature, causes of stress and stages of
stressful situation within 10 minutes
 Analyse the stages of a stressful situation,
sources and effects of stress without
compromising healthy life styles.
 Apply the stages of stress response in dealing
with different situation in accordance with set
rules and guidelines.
 Value the stress management techniques and
principles without compromising unit’s
policies and guidelines.
Nature of Stress
 Stress- plays a part in the lives of everyone.
Some stress is not only inevitable, it can be
good. For example. The physical stress of
“working out” improves your cardiovascular
system, and feeling pressure that causes you
study harder for an exam can improve your
score. Police Stress, however refers to the
negative pressures related to police work.
Police Officers are not super human.
 According to Gail Goolkasian and
others, research shows that they are
affected by their daily exposure to
human indecency and pain: that
dealing with a suspicious and
sometimes hostile public takes its toll
on them and that the shift changes,
the long periods of boredom, and the
ever-present danger that are part of
police work do cause serious job
stress.
 Police work is highly stressful. It is one of the
few occupations in which, employees
continually face physical dangers and be
asked to put their lives on the line at anytime.
The police officer is exposed to violence,
cruelty and aggression and must often make
critical decision in high pressure situations.
 Stress is a part of living. All living organisms

are subjected to stress. Since we cannot

separate stress from us, the best thing that
we can do as police officers is to manage it
properly by learning SMILE.
DEFINITION OF KEY CONCEPTS

 Stress – the non-specific response of the body to any demand

placed upon it
-the wear and tear on the body caused by living.
 Distress – Negative stress
 Eustress – Positive stress
 Stressor – Any environmental event that causes an automatic
nervous system response.
 Police Stress – refers to negative stress that is related to an
individual’s job as a police officer.
 Job Stress – the condition in which some factor or
combination of factors that intersects with the worker to
disrupt his psychological and physiological equilibrium.
 Defense Mechanisms – protective mechanisms whenever the
integrity of the self or ego is threatened.
Burn-out – a state of total mental, emotional and physical
exhaustion, characterized by changed attitudes towards
work colleagues and crisis victims.

Flame-out – a preventable and treatable conditions which

occurs when the need for periodic rest, food, exercise
and relaxation is overlook or ignored.

STAGES OF A STRESSFUL SITUATION

Stress can unfold itself in a series of stages. The first
is “fight or flight” stage in which the body prepares itself
to take action, alerting all body systems. In the second
stage, a rush of adrenaline courses through the blood
stream enabling the body to quickly respond to the
situation at hand. During the third stage, the body
attempts to break down or metabolize the stress
hormones. In the fourth stage, the body systems slowly
return to normal and calming down effect is experienced.
GENERAL ADAPTATION SYNDROME
Dr Hans Selye – in his book, The Stress of Life,
proposed a “general adaptation syndrome” to
describe the effects of negative stress. The syndrome
involves three distinct stages in individuals who are
exposed to a wide variety of environmental threats or
“stressors”.
General Adaptation Syndrome
(GAS)

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3

 Stage 1 Alarm reaction characterized by less
than normal resistance to the stressors and a
more abundant secretion of stress hormones.
 Stage 2 Resistance during which the level of

resistance to the stressors increases and

body defense mechanisms are activated; and
 Stage 3 Exhaustion, when bodily resources

are depleted and the person cannot maintain

an adequate defense against the stressor.
STRESSORS IN POLICE WORK
General Classification
- External stressors stemming from the criminal justice system and
society at large.
 Frustration with the Philippine judicial system
 Lack of consideration by courts in scheduling officers court appearance
 Lack of public support
 Negative or distorted media coverage
 Officers’ dislike of administrative decisions

internal stressors stemming from the policies and practices of the

police organization.
 Policies and procedures that are offensive
 Poor or inadequate training and inadequate career development

opportunities
 Lack of identity and recognition
 Poor economic benefits and working conditions
 Excessive paperwork
 Inconsistent discipline
 Perceived favoritism
Stressors inherent in police work.
 Rigors of shift work
 Role conflict
 Frequent exposure to life’s miseries
 Boredom
 Fear
 Responsibility for protecting other people
 Fragmented nature of the job
 Work overload

Stressors confronting individual officers.

 Fears regarding job competence
 Necessity to conform
 Necessity to take a second job
 Altered social status in the community
EFFECTS OF STRESS

Personal

Alcohol abuse Psychosomatic

Drug abuse disease
Emotional instability Eating disorder
Fatigue Boredom
Marital problems Mental illness
Depression Suicide
Insomnia Health breakdown
Insecurity irresponsibility
Anxiety
Organizational

Reduced Lack of creativity

productivity Increase sick leave
Increased errors Premature
High turnover Job dissatisfaction
Retirement Poor decision
Absenteeism
Damage and
waste
Antagonistic
STAGES OF STRESS RESPONSE

Stage1: Alarm Reaction. Any physical, emotional, or mental

upset will cause an instantaneous reaction by the body to
combat the stressor. This physical response is well known as
the “fight-or-flight” reaction. The “fight or flight” reaction
sends a tremendous burst of adrenaline to all parts of the
body – the blood vessels, heart, stomach, kidneys, lungs,
eyes, muscles, and more. If the stress is short-term (acute) or
not severe (in biological terms, a short time would be a few
hours, perhaps even a couple of days), we quickly recover
without any detrimental effect on the body. If the stress is
chronic or long term, the body’s resistance is affected, making
us more susceptible to illness or disease.
Stage2: Resistance. At the resistance stage, the body tries to become
balanced (a process called homeostasis). You may think you can handle
anything because the stress symptoms noticed in the alarm stage have
now calmed down – until you become completely exhausted. As the
stress continues. You may suffer with fatigue, sleep problems, and
overall malaise. If you get poor sleep, you may become quite irritable
and have difficulty concentrating or being productive at home or work.
This creates even more stress and a vicious cycle has started.

Stage 3: Exhaustion. After combating stress for days to weeks, the

body shuts down completely. Sometimes after days of unending stress,
the body succumbs to illness – either a viral or bacterial infection. If
you look back over a period of several years, you may find that the
times you developed a cold or flu were immediately after a stressful
event in your life.
It is during this exhaustion stage that you may pay
the price of abuse with premature skin aging.
Chronic or long-term stress depletes the
epidermis of water, oxygen, and vitamins C, as
well as increases hormone levels, histamines, and
sebum production. While completely unaware of
the internal damage from chronic stress, you will
notice how it manifests in skin symptoms such as
bumps, excess oil, breakouts, acne rosacea,
pimples, and a host of other unsightly conditions.
 Stress and the Police Family
 Changing work schedule – not much time is spent with
children; weekends and holiday with the family are missed.
 Emotional exhaustion – the various negative situations
with which the officers constantly comes in contact lead to
frustration and psychological exhaustion.
 Negative image – perceived public animosity and
disrespect impose the negative label of “cop” on the
officer.
 Overprotecting the spouse and family – wanting to know
where his wife and children are what they are doing and
who they are with all times can impose irksome
restrictions on the family.
 Hardening of emotions – to function adequate on the job
law enforcement officers often find it necessary to
suppress their feelings.
 Sexual problems – sexual problems between the officer
and his spouse may be either a symptom or a cause of
emotional conflict and estrangement – and often are both.
 Identity problems – traditional roles of men
and women in marriage have undergone
rapid changes in the past several years.
 Problems with the children – children of polite

officers may encounter negative reactions

and rejections from both peers and school
teachers because of their father’s occupation.
 Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a

psychological condition that is caused by

one’s inability to successfully manage an
emotional response triggered by severe
trauma (Paradise,1991).
 The symptoms of PTSD generally include (Philip
and Schwartz, 1992).
 When exposed to places and situations resembling
the initial traumatic event, the officer re-
experiences the traumatic event. The officer can
have nightmares, flashbacks or hallucinations.
 Continual avoidance of any thought about the
traumatic event.
 A sense of detachment from others, including
family members.
 Insomnia
 Spontaneous outburst of anger.
 Preoccupation with thoughts of death or dying.
 Inability to concentrate.
Stress management Techniques to be used
Techniques that you select depend on the cause of
the stress and the situation in which the stress
occurs. In choosing methods to combat stress, it is
worth asking yourself where the stress comes
from. If outside factors such as important events
or relationship difficulties are causing stress, then
a positive thinking or imagery based technique
may be effective. Where stress and fatigue are long
tem, then lifestyle and organizational changes may
be appropriate. If the feelings of stress come from
adrenaline in your body, then it may be effective to
relax the body and slow the flow of adrenaline.
Stress management techniques from a number of
different perspective:
Firstly we look at a method of analyzing the stresses you
are under so that you can choose the appropriate control
technique. This is explained in The stress diary.
Next we look at a number if different mental approaches
to controlling short term stress.
We then look at physical techniques for reducing stress,
relaxing muscles and controlling adrenaline in your
body.
After this we switch focus to long term stress, and look
at ways of controlling stress that you may be creating for
yourself.
Finally we look at ways of reducing stress caused by your
environment.
Counter Stress Programs

Philippine National Police

Physical Wellness Program
Emotional Wellness Program
Mental Wellness Program
Spiritual Wellness Program

Department of Health Sandosenang “S” Iwas stress

-scheduling -speak to me
-siesta -self-awareness
-sports -stress debriefing
-spirituality -stress reduction relaxation exercise
-sounds, songs -socials
-sensation techniques -smile
Eleven Pointers to Live By in Managing Stress
Stress in daily life is natural, pervasive, unavoidable thus to be
expected. Police officer means and success in coping with
stressful incidents vary.
Stress has a significant relationship to job performance.
The best defense against stress is understanding it, its
symptoms and perceive life.
You cannot control what happens in the environment but you
are responsible for your reactions to it.
There are two tragedies in life. One is getting what one wants
and the other is not getting it.
Men’s natures are alike. It is their habits that carry them apart.
We are all tea bags. We don’t know how strong we are until we
are put into hot water.
The key to winning is attitude. Attitude is your altitude.
The most difficult in life is CHOICE.
Principles of Stress Management
 It seems like everywhere we turn now we hear about bad stress can

be for our lives and our health. Just because we understand how
important stress management is in our lives, that doesn’t really
mean we understand how to make stress management a part of our
lives. That is where the principles of stress management come into
play. By understanding and implementing these four simple
principles you will be able to reduce the stress in your life and
therefore be able to have a more organized life all around.
 Try to prioritize. The very first principle in stress management is

trying to prioritize the things in your life. Take time each day to
think about what you need to accomplish and what should be done
first. By taking the time earl in the day to do this, you can get rid
of the big items that will take up most of your time and plan the
smaller items around them. By writing down this priority “to-do”
list, you will be able to better plan out your day, and see exactly
how much time you have to do things. Do this now only for each
day, but also each week, month, and year if at all possible.
 Take time for yourself. One of the major causes of stress in our lives is
to not take enough time for ourselves. Everyone needs a little time to
“recharge” their batteries and to clear their head. If you don’t do this
periodically, if only for five or ten minutes each day, you will find
yourself emotionally and physically drained and unable to go on.
 Recognize when you need help. No matter how much we may not like to
admit it, everyone needs help. What makes this so difficult is that we,
as a society, have a hard time learning to recognize when we need help.
If you find yourself becoming stressed, take a little time to take stock of
the situation. Think about what led up to the situation that you are in,
ad remember that for the future. When you find yourself in those or
similar situations where you may find yourself having difficulties, seek
the help of another.
 Learn to let go. Perhaps the single most difficult principle of stress
management to learn, is learning to let go. There are times when you
simply need to take a break. Where it will do no good whatsoever to
continue on with the stressful situation, so it is best to leave. Take a
five or ten minutes break to get your bearings. Afterwards, come back
with a clear head. You will be amazed at how much difference this can
make.
 Prayer

Lord slow me down

Ease the pounding of my hear by quieting my mind.
Steady my hurried pace.
Give me in the confusion of my day, calmness of the everlasting hills.
Break the tension on my nerves and muscles.
Help me to know the magical restoring power of sleep.
Teach me to take minute vacation by slowing down to look at a flower, a
cloud, to chat with a friend, to pat a dog, to read a few lines from a good
book.
Remind me that the race is not always to the swift, that there is more to
life that increasing its speed.
Let me look upward into the branches of the towering oak and know what
it grew great and strong because it grew slowly and well.
Lord, slow me down. Inspire me to send my roots deep into the soil of
life’s enduring values that I may grow toward the stars of my great destiny.