Stress can be defined as a responding demand that disrupts ones mental and physical well-being due to good or bad experiences. Stress involves two components: the psychological perception of pressure or demand, and the body’s response to the demand or pressure. Signs of a person under stress that are common include emotional changes, sleeping difficulties, abuse of drugs or alcohol, changes in appetite, and chronic fatigue. In the day-to-day activities of a human being, they encounter different forms of stress. However, the good thing is that there are forms of stress management and control that can be utilized (Friedman, n.d). Therefore, this piece provides different causes of stress, psychological and physiological methods that can be employed to measure stress, and stress management practices and techniques.
Causes of Stress
According to Mushtaq, a Doctor of philosophy in psychology defines stress as “a state of psychological and physiological imbalance resulting from the disparity between situational demand and the individual’s ability as well as the motivation to meet those demands” (Mushtaq, 2008). There are four major types of stress factors: psychosocial stress, psychological stress, physical stress, and psycho-spiritual stress. Psychosocial stress is the type of stress that is caused as a result of one’s social interaction with others. The causes of stress in this category include difficulties in marriage or relationships such as with siblings, family, partner, co-workers, or employer. Other causes of psychosocial stress involve a shortage of social support, long-time isolation, lack of enough resources for survival, loss of loved ones, employment, or investment, and when declared bankrupt. Psychosocial stress can need top mental illness, drug or alcohol misusage, an abnormal rise in blood pressure, and heart-related diseases (Friedman, n.d). Psychological stress refers to an emotional or physiological reaction that one experiences when confronted with demands beyond their coping resources. The types of psychological stress incorporates emotional stress such as fear, frustration, anger, grief, and resentments; cognitive stress, which is caused by one feeling worried, guilt, shame, self-criticism, unworkable perfectionism, and the feeling of not being themselves; and perceptual stress that is caused by stories, world view of an individual, attitudes, and beliefs. Physical stress involves one coming into conduct with physical aspects. Causes of physical stress include trauma from injury, infection or surgery, illness, dietary stress, such as food allergies, substance abuse, fatigue, toxins, and musculoskeletal misalignments. Lastly, psycho-spiritual stress is caused by misalignments with one’s core spiritual beliefs, joyless striving, and a crisis of values, purpose, and meaning (Friedman, n.d).
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Psychological and Physiological Methods Employed to Measure Stress
Psychological and physiological stress levels can be measured through different methods. This paper covers two of the methods that are used to measure psychological stress. The two methods include the Perceived Stress Scale (PSC) and the Psychological Stress Measure (PSM). The PSC is mostly used to measure the perception of stress. The psychological instrument measures the extent to which situations in an individual’s life are appraised as stressful. It is composed of a scale of 0-4 which measures the feelings and thoughts through the use of questionnaires. The PSM is composed of 49 items and is conceptualized to measure four components which manifest stress: somatic, behavioral, cognitive, and affective. The components measured are represented using indices: somatic, alpha=0.88; behavioral, alpha=0.82; cognitive, alpha= 0.88; and affective, alpha=0.90. To measure physiological stress, three methods are utilized which include measuring of cortisol that involves the use of saliva samples; measuring the mean heart rate and alpha-amylase (Willhaus, 2013). Advanced technology has enabled the collection of measures more efficiently, less-invasively, and less expensive.
Stress Management
Stress management encompasses practices which are intended to equip an individual with effective coping mechanisms for handling psychological stress. Stress can have a significant impact on all aspects of an individual’s mind and body. Thus it is important to understand critical stress management techniques and how they can be applied in different stress situations. There are numerous healthy stress management techniques that can be used; some of them include taking a break from the stressor, exercising and meditation, and through social support. Taking a break from the stressor involves one developing a way to address or completely ignore the stress factors. The first step for stress management here would be for one to identify the major sources of stress. Sources of stress identification can be achieved through a stress management journal (Robinson, Smith, & Segal, 2019). After identifying the sources of stress, one has to accept responsibility for the role they play in creating and maintaining the stress factors. One can then be able to control or take a break from stress by avoiding playing a part in stress creation. Elimination of stressors can also be possible through numerous means such as setting limits and adhering to them. For instance, refusing to accept added responsibilities both in personal and professional life is one way to eliminate stress. Stress can also be eliminated when individuals take control of their environment and by avoiding people who stress them out. Other ways of avoiding stress is by avoiding hot-button topics and crossing off topics that might cause upset, and paring down the to-do list which helps one to analyze his or her day-to-day task, schedule, and responsibilities and hence be able to drop those that are not meaningful creating enough time to handle the rest under low pressure (Robinson, Smith, & Segal, 2019).
When it comes to exercising and meditation as a mean of stress management, it is highly advisable for one to get involved in daily exercises as it benefits the fitness state of mind as much as it does to the body. Examples of simple exercises that one can take part in include evening or morning runs and walking, stretching, doing yoga, taking deep breaths and other muscle relaxing activities. Meditation involves spoken disclosure expressing considered thoughts such as a mindful prayer and also body relaxing and focus. Through this, individuals can see new perspectives; develop self-compassion and forgiveness. The new perspectives develop because physical exercises and mindfulness practices help people release emotions. Lastly, it is important for one to get social support. Get the support can be achieved through sharing feelings or concerns to a friend or some with a close relationship. However, it is very important that the individuals whom one share feelings or concerns with are trustworthy and ones feel they can understand as well as validate them (Robinson, Smith, & Segal, 2019).
In conclusion, stress management can be achieved only if one is willing to counter the stress factors facing them. Some stresses are hard to manage and might need professional help from the therapist. However, the fasted way to reduce and manage stress for one to experiment and discover the unique sensory experiences that work best for them and using their senses.
References
Friedman, W. (n.d). Types of Stress and Their Symptoms. Mentalhelp.Net . Retrieved from https://www.mentalhelp.net/blogs/types-of-stress-and-their-symptoms/
Mushtaq, T. (2008). Efficacy of Comprehensive Psychotherapeutic Intervention among Chronic Low Back Pain Patients-An Experimental Study. Vinayaka Mission’s Research Foundation-Deemed University . Retrieved from http://www.vinayakamission.com/userfiles/phd/J54650004.pdf
Robinson, L., Smith, M., & Segal, R. (2019, January). Stress Management. HelpGuide . Retrieved from https://www.helpguide.org/articles/stress/stress-management.htm?pdf=15118
Willhaus, J. (2013). Measures of Physiological and Psychological Stress in Novice Health Professions Students during a Simulated Patient Emergency. Washington State University . Retrieved from https://research.libraries.wsu.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/2376/4722/Willhaus_wsu_0251E_10659.pdf?sequence=1
