SOCIAL WORK COUNSELING

STRESS MANAGEMENT • In the 1920s, American physiologist Walter

Cannon was the first to describe the fight-or-
Stress
flight response. Cannon realized that a chain
• Stress can be defined as a state of worry or
of rapidly occurring reactions inside the body
mental tension caused by a difficult situation.
helped to mobilize the body's resources to
• Stress is a feeling of emotional or physical
deal with threatening circumstances.
tension. It can come from any event or thought
• Today, the fight-or-flight response is
that makes you feel frustrated, angry, or
recognized as part of the first stage of Hans
nervous.
Selye's general adaptation syndrome, a theory
• Stress is how we react when we feel under
describing the stress response.
pressure or threatened.
The 3 Stages of Fight-or-Flight are:
How does stress evolve?
✓ The alarm stage: During this stage, the central
nervous system is ramped up, preparing your
body to fight or flee.
✓ The resistance stage: This is the stage in which
the body attempts to normalize and recover
from the initial elevated fight-or-flight
response.
✓ The exhaustion stage: If the first two stages
occur repeatedly over time, such as when
under chronic stress, this can cause the body
to feel exhausted and begin to break down.

SYMPTOMS OF STRESS

PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS OF STRESS:

TENSION HEADACHE
- Tension headaches are the most common type
of headache. Typically, tension-type headache
causes mild to moderate pain, usually on both
sides of the head. There is a pressing or
tightening sensation. It is not pulsating and is
not accompanied by nausea.
• Stress evolved in the form of a fight or
INSOMNIA
flight response. This response was a reaction
- is difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, or
to physical threats on one’s life.
a combination of both. Insomnia may be its
• The fight-or-flight response, also known as the
own diagnosis or a symptom of another
acute stress response. physical or mental health problem.
• The term "fight-or-flight" represents the
choices our ancient ancestors had when faced 2 Categories of Insomnia:
with danger in their environment: to either • Primary insomnia is when a person is
fight or flee. In either case, the physiological having sleep difficulties that are not
and psychological response to stress prepares associated with any other health
the body to react to the danger. conditions.
 • Secondary insomnia occurs when a person physical changes like increased blood
is having sleep difficulties as a result of pressure.
another health condition, medicine, or - feelings of nervousness, panic and fear as well
substance. as sweating and a rapid heartbeat.
Insomnia can be classified as: - Anxiety is your body’s natural response to
• Transient insomnia is insomnia that comes stress. It’s a feeling of fear or apprehension
on suddenly and lasts for a week or less. about what’s to come.
People do not typically seek treatment for
MENTAL SYMPTOMS:
transient insomnia, but may have several
episodes. DEPRESSION
• Acute insomnia (short-term insomnia) is - Depression is a common mental health
the inability to sleep well for a month or problem that involves a low mood and a loss
less, and is commonly caused by stress or of interest in activities.
lifestyle factors. - Depression is a mood disorder that causes a
• Chronic insomnia (long-term insomnia) is persistent feeling of sadness and loss of
ongoing insomnia that may get better for interest. Also called major depressive disorder
brief periods only to return. or clinical depression, it affects how you feel,
FATIGUE think and behave and can lead to a variety of
- Fatigue is a term used to describe an overall emotional and physical problems.
feeling of tiredness or lack of energy. It isn’t SUICIDAL IDEATION
the same as simply feeling drowsy or sleepy. - Suicidal ideation is a common medical term
- Fatigue reduces energy, the ability to do for thoughts about suicide. Thoughts may be
things and the ability to focus. fleeting in nature, or they may persist and
- Temporary loss of strength and energy resolve into a formulated plan.
resulting from hard physical or mental work.
- People who find themselves experiencing
ABDOMINAL PAIN suicidal thoughts or behaviors may find that
- Stress tends to cause a great deal of tension they do so as a result of conditions such
in the abdomen. That tension can tire out as depression, hopelessness,
abdominal muscles and cause an internal severe anxiety, insomnia, or panic attacks.
feeling of discomfort. FOOD AND EATING ISSUES
- The stress that anxiety puts on your body can - Eating disorders happen when someone’s
lead to stomach pains. relationship to food spirals out of control. This
ACNE OR BREAKOUTS could manifest in all sorts of ways. Some
- Acne is an inflammatory disorder of the skin, people eat too much, some eat too little, and
which has sebaceous (oil) glands that connects others struggle with the physical act of
to the hair follicle, which contains a fine hair. eating.
- Acne is a common skin condition where the - Eating disorders don’t simply cause emotional
pores of your skin clog. distress. They can also cause physical health
problems. In severe cases, they may even be
ANXIETY fatal.
- Anxiety is an emotion characterized by
feelings of tension, worried thoughts, and ADDICTIONS AND COMPULSIONS
- An addiction—a persistent need to consume
a substance or commit an act—is distinct from
 a compulsion, which is an overwhelming and TYPES OF STRESS
irresistible impulse to act. • Acute Stress
EMOTIONAL SYMPTOMS • Episodic Acute Stress
• Chronic Stress
- Irritability, an agitation that may result from
• Eustress
provocation, illness, or seemingly no reason at
all, may be simply an expression of normal
ACUTE STRESS
annoyance, but it may also indicate a mental
health or medical condition. - Most common type of stress
- Irritability is a state that involves feelings of - Normally comes from demands and pressures
anger or frustration, of being impatient and of past and future demands.
quick to get annoyed, especially over small - Acute stress is experienced as an immediate
things. People with irritability have a tendency perceived threat, either physical, emotional or
to react with anger to slight provocation. psychological.

SADNESS EPISODIC ACUTE STRESS

- Sadness is considered to be one of the basic - Can be more serious form of acute stress.
human emotions and it is a natural response - The person feels stress daily and rarely gets
to situations involving psychological, relief.
emotional, and/or physical pain. Sad feelings - Episodic acute stress is when a person
often quickly diminish after individuals resolve experiences acute stress frequently.
or come to terms with upsetting experiences.
CHRONIC STRESS
ANGER - Long-term stress where people see little way
- Anger is a strong feeling of displeasure. It is out of a situation.
often a reaction to stress, failure, or injustice. - Type stress that happen month after month,
Anger can range from mild irritation to full- year after year
blown rage. - If you have chronic stress, your body
- But anger has risks, perhaps more than any experiences the fight or flight response too
other emotion. It can alienate people from frequently to recover between episodes.
others and lead individuals to do things they - A consistent sense of feeling pressured and
later regret. overwhelmed over a long period of time.
APATHY EUSTRESS
- Apathy describes an absence of feeling - Positive stress to help us achieve at a higher
or emotion. level.
- This indifference can affect your motivation - Refers to stress that leads to a positive
and leave you feeling detached from the response. It is the opposite of distress and can
world. You might: refer to any type of beneficial stress, whether
a. stop caring about everyday tasks, hobbies, physical or psychological.
or personal interests - This type of "positive" stress can contribute to
b. struggle to show interest and enthusiasm feelings of optimism and excitement about life.
in your personal relationships
c. feel indifferent to spending time with
others
d. experience very little emotion or changes
in mood
 How to Deal with Stress? - Even when facing difficult situations, we can
still make the conscious choice to act in line
Stress Management
with our values.
- Stress management is the process of
- We must continually ask ourselves, “Are my
acquiring and practicing a variety of cognitive
actions moving me toward or away from my
and behavioral techniques with the goal of
values?”
managing and coping with stress.
- Stress management is defined as the tools, BEING KIND
strategies, or techniques that reduce stress - Kindness can make a significant difference to
and reduce the negative impacts stress has on our mental health by being kind to others, as
your mental or physical well-being. well as to ourselves.
- The central idea is that kindness creates
Stress Management Guide
positive (supportive and meaningful) social
• Grounding
connections, which, in turn, reduce the
• Unhooking
response to stressors as well as fulfill basic,
• Acting on your Values
innate needs that are critical to health and
• Being Kind
longevity.
• Making Room
• Accept the thing Cannot Change MAKING ROOM
• Change your Attitude - “Making room” means allowing the painful
• Alter the Situation feeling or thought to come and go like the
• Limit Unnecessary Stress weather.
- If something quiet stressful is going on in your
GROUNDING life, this is a particularly important time to
- Grounding is a set of simple strategies that make sure you are taking the space you need:
can help you detach from emotional pain. - Delegate/postpone – ask yourself if there is
- It is basically a way to distract yourself by anything you can ask someone else to help
focusing on something other than the difficult you with. This can be really helpful in freeing
emotions you are experiencing. up some of your available resources and
- provide a temporary way to gain control over headspace.
your feelings and prevent things from getting - Self-care – the more under pressure you are,
worse. the more you need to make sure you look after
yourself. Make sure to make time to do the
UNHOOKING things that make you feel well: they are not
- “Unhooking” is a tool to manage and decrease luxury, they are essentials!
the impact of these unwanted thoughts.
- Whenever you NOTICE that you are getting ACCEPT THE THINGS YOU CANNOT CHANGE
"Hooked" with difficult thoughts and feelings, - It simply means that you acknowledge that
just "Un-hook" by refocusing and engaging on you don't have control over the situation, and
what you are doing, i.e. with your full it is what it is.
attention. - Don’t try to control the uncontrollable
- Look at the flipside - As the saying goes,
ACTING ON OUR VALUES
“What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.”
- This means, despite challenges and struggles
- Open up
we are experiencing, we will act in line with
- Make room for acceptance
what is important to us and our beliefs.
CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE - Cut down your to-do list
- Your attitude exert incredible influence over - Limit the amount of time you spend with
every aspect of your life. You have come people who stress you out
across some people who achieve their goal, - Take control of the situation
enjoy success, enjoy every moment of their
life, didn't get that by an accident. “It's the path you choose to take when moving
- A positive attitude can change your whole life forward. How you allow the change to change
and leads to success & happiness in every you is ultimately in your hands”
area of life.
- Reframe problems - Try to view stressful
situations from a different perspective.
- Look at the bigger picture.
- Adjust your expectations.
ALTER THE SITUATION “I can do all things through Christ who
- If you cannot limit stress of a particular strengthens me.”
situation, try to alter it. Figure out what you Philippians 4:13
can do to change things to reduce stress in
your current situation & also to ensure the
problem doesn’t present itself in the future.
- Make your feelings known - instead of bottling
them up.
- Be assertive - Don’t take a backseat in your
own life. Deal with problems head on, doing
your best to anticipate and prevent them.
- Improve your time management.
CHANGE THE SITUATION OR CHANGE YOUR
REACTION TO IT
- We, as humans, have instinctive reactions to
them. But it's how we respond to these
changes after our initial reaction that
determines how they affect our lives.
- A reaction is how you feel at the moment of
the change.
- Responding, on the other hand, is a conscious
choice you make. It's the path you choose to
take when moving forward.
LIMIT UNNECESSARY STRESS
- Some stress just can’t be ignored, and it’s
never a good idea to avoid an issue that needs
to be addressed. You may be surprised,
however, by the number of stressors in your
life that you can eliminate.
- Learn how to say no