Stress-Related Illness - Essay Example

 Kelly Roberts is a dedicated mother of three children. Her husband, Rick is a businessman who is always away on work-related trips. This arrangement has left Kelly as the sole caregiver of her three youngsters. Kelly is a highly efficient teacher in a prestigious preschool. Being one of its pioneer teachers, she has developed a high quality preschool program that has gained recognition in the city. It has attracted several parents to enroll their children in school. Over the years, the preschool’s enrollees have multiplied, much to the satisfaction of the school owners. This rise in student enrollment has likewise raised the demand for more teachers and staff. The school owners and directress have entrusted Kelly with the role of training new teachers with the quality of teaching she is known for. She is likewise head of the Parent Involvement Program of the school. Her many duties at work, on top of preparing for her own preschool class and her homemaker role at home has been taking its toll on Kelly. For the past month, she has complained of recurrent migraines, stomach pains and general body malaise. Lately, she has also been observed to be short-tempered, prone to crying spells at the smallest provocation, and bossy with the teachers she trains, and curt with the parents she meets with. Kelly has been exhibiting symptoms very common in the workplace. She is becoming a victim of…STRESS. Generally, stress is what one feels when the demands on his life exceed his ability to meet those demands. The stressor may be external, such as the death of someone close to the individual or a sudden change in activity level. Or, it may be an internal stressor such as an illness. In Kelly’s case, her stressors are: overload of work duties, work-life imbalance, her own personality traits and the personalities of the people she works with. The interplay of stressors and the consistent experience of high amounts in one’s life can often lead to burnout. The term “burnout” is a relatively new term, first coined in 1974 by Herbert Freudenberger, in his book, “Burnout: The High Cost of High Achievement”. He originally defined ‘burnout’ as, “the extinction of motivation or incentive, especially where one's devotion to a cause or relationship fails to produce the desired results.” (Scott, 2007) While burnout is not a recognized clinical psychiatric or psychological disorder, there are some similar features between burnout and diagnosable conditions such as depression, anxiety disorders or mood disorders. Based on various literature, (Greenberger and Strasser, 1986; Neils, n.d., Scott, 2007 among others) the following are representatives of burnout symptoms: Depleted Physical Energy: Prolonged stress can be physically draining, causing one to feel tired much of the time, or no longer have the energy she once did. Getting out of bed to face another day of the same gets more difficult. Emotional Exhaustion: One feels impatient, moody, inexplicably sad, or just get frustrated more easily than you normally would. She feels like you can’t deal with life as easily than she once could. Lowered Immunity to Illness: When stress levels are high for a prolonged amount of time, the immune system does suffer. People who are suffering from burnout usually get the message from their body that something needs to change, and that message comes in the form of increases in susceptibility to colds, the flu, and other minor illnesses (and sometimes some not-so-minor ones such as heart attacks and high blood pressure). Less Investment in Interpersonal Relationships: Withdrawing somewhat from interpersonal relationships is another possible sign of burnout. One may feel like she have less to give, or less interest in having fun, or just less patience with people. But for whatever reason, people experiencing burnout can usually see the effects in their relationships. Increasingly Pessimistic Outlook: When experiencing burnout, it’s harder to get excited about life, harder to expect the best, harder to let things roll off your back, and harder to ‘look on the bright side’ in general. Because optimism is a great buffer for stress, those suffering from burnout find it harder to pull out of their rut than they normally would. Increased Absenteeism and Inefficiency at Work: When experiencing job burnout, it gets more difficult just to get out of bed and face more of what’s been overwhelming you in the first place. This may be an unconscious defense against burnout, but those experiencing it tend to be less effective overall and stay home from work more often. (This could also be due to increased illness resulting from lowered immunity, as discussed above.) This is part of why it makes sense for workers to take some time off before they’re feeling burned-out, and why it makes sense for employers to refrain from running their workers into the ground; they might not get back up so quickly! Comprehensive Treatment Plan Kelly needs to learn stress management techniques to reduce, if not totally diminish her burnout symptoms and be able to resume a relaxed and more effective performance at work and at home. The proposed stress management techniques involve relaxation training that she needs to learn and do on her own when she feels the stress levels creep up again. 1. Autogenic Training Autogenic Training is a stress-reducing technique developed by Johannes Schultz. In involves having the patient find a relaxed bodily position and concentrate on hypnotizing oneself into relaxation. Mostly, it commands arms and legs to get heavy and relax while the body follows suit. The result will be a feeling of general body warmth which is caused by increased blood flow due to vasodilation of the arteries. Autogenic training has been known to have beneficial physiological and psychological effects. Among the physiological effects are the following (from: hercules.gcsu.edu/bcooper/HLTH%204200/ppt_ch10.ppt) Reduces heart rate Reduces respiratory rate Reduces muscle tension Reduces serum cholesterol Increases alpha brain waves Increases blood flow to arms and legs Immune function of cancer patients Quality of life for those with multiple sclerosis Relief from headaches Helps those with drug abuse problems Helps women alleviate menstrual discomfort Helps those with scoliosis and dyspnea Among the psychological effects of Autogenic training are: Increases ability to tolerate pain Reduces anxiety Reduces depression Increases resistance to stress Reduces tiredness This stress management technique is proposed for Kelly because it can be learned on her own and at her own time since she is a very busy individual. Exercises may be done in the privacy of her own home and may be easily accessible in the internet. Autogenic training helps in overcoming any psychological or physiological problems, however, results may depend on the severity of the problem and the discipline and confidence of the patient that she can do it (http://www.guidetopsychology.com/autogen.htm). 2. Visual Imagery Visual Imagery is deliberately thinking of relaxing scenes and playing it in the mind. Body relaxation goes hand in hand with mind relaxation. Some doctors advise their patients to think of cool colors to ease the pain, or imagine their pain being washed away completely. It is heavily into “mind over matter” and it usually results in positive dispositions. The patient is asked to close his or her eyes and visualize positive things that she wants to happen and concentrate on those thoughts and feelings she goes through while “living” those thoughts in her head. Kelly can manage to do visual imagery anywhere whenever she feels stressed. The added benefit is that she will develop a positive outlook in life. 3. Cognitive Behavior Therapy Clients suffering from psychological problems and other stress-related symptoms are assumed to focus more on their flaws that pull them down than on their potentials that may spur them up to success. Aaron Beck agrees that much of our psychological problems are caused by “cognitive distortions” due to our acknowledged human fallibility. “ Beck (1987) came up with the concept of “negative cognitive triad” that describes the pattern that triggers depression. In the first component of the triad, the client exhibits a negative view of himself. He is convinced that he is to blame for whatever pathetic state he is currently in because of his personal inadequacies. Secondly, the client shows negative view of the world, hence, a tendency to interpret experiences in a negative manner. He nurtures a subjective feeling of not able to cope with the demands of the environment. Third and lastly, the client projects a gloomy vision of the future. He can only anticipate failure in the future. Beck (1975) developed a model to treat depression. He writes that, in the broadest sense, “cognitive therapy consists of all of the approaches that alleviate psychological distress through the medium of correcting faulty conceptions and self-signals” (p. 214) The goal of therapy is to help the client realize that reorganizing the way they view situations will call for a corresponding reorganization in behavior. In therapy, clients are taught Thought Catching or the process of recognizing, observing and monitoring their own thoughts and assumptions and catch themselves especially their negative automatic thoughts when they dwell on it. Once they are aware of how their negativity affects them, they are trained to check if these automatic thoughts are valid by examining and weighing the evidence for and against them. This technique will definitely reassure Kelly that not everything bad that happens to her is caused by her own inefficiency. The proposed stress management techniques may be fairly easy to do for people who experience stress on a manageable level. If there is much greater stress involved that makes the individual unable to do anything productive, then a more thorough psychological or medical therapy must be in order. For Kelly, it is obvious that her illness is caused by recent stress factors in both her work and home life and that her body is just giving her signals to slow down and take it easy. Although the mind-body stress management techniques proposed may be learned easily, it is not to suggest that one must ignore bodily signals to rest and recharge. References Autogenic Training and Imagery Chapter 10 (n.d.), Retrieved on June 27, 2009 from: hercules.gcsu.edu/bcooper/HLTH%204200/ppt_ch10.ppt Autogenic Training (n.d.) Retrieved on June 27, 2009 from: http://www.guidetopsychology.com/autogen.htm Beck, A. T. (1987). Cognitive models of depression. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy: An International Quarterly, 1, 5-57. Beck, A.T. (1975) Depression: Cause & Treatment. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, Press. Greenberger, D. B. and Strasser, S. (1986). `Developing and application of a model of personal control in organizations', Academy of Management Review, 11, 164±177. Neils, H. (n.d.) “13 signs of burnout and how to help you avoid it “, Retrieved on June 26, 2009 from http://www.assessment.com/mappmembers/avoidingburnout.asp?Accnum=06- 5210-010.00  Scott, E. (2007),“Stress and burnout: burnout symptoms and causes” Retrieved on June 25, 2009 from http://stress.about.com/od/burnout/a/stressn_burnout.htm Scott, E. (2007) “Top 10 things to know about the effects of stress” Retrieved on June 25, 2009 from http://stress.about.com/od/understandingstress/tp/effects_stress.htm Read More