ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION DISASTER MENTAL HEALTH NEWSLETTER
Learning From The Past and Planning For The Future
MENTAL HEALTH MOMENT
March 30, 2001
To escape criticism - do nothing, say nothing, be nothing."
- Elbert Hubbard
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PSU TO HOST CHILDREN'S MENTAL HEALTH CONFERENCE
The 15th Annual Children's Interagency Conference will be held April
24-27 at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel. More than 80
workshops and general sessions will focus on best practices and the
future for children's mental health services in Pennsylvania. The
conference is intended for professionals in state, county and
regional child and adolescent programs in justice, welfare and
education, psychologists, social workers, and family members. It is
sponsored by the Pennsylvania Child and Adolescent Service System
Program Training and Technical Assistance Institute, which is part of
the Center for Community Action and Research in the School of
Behavioral Sciences and Education at Penn State Harrisburg. For more
information, go to http://pacassp.hbg.psu.edu.
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DANGEROUS GAMES
Some kids seem to whine at the least little ache or pain, but when it
comes to the playing field, pay close attention. Last year, over one
million kids under age 18 were seen in emergency rooms for
sport-related injuries. Children's joints and bones are different
from ours, and what may seem like simple shin splints may be a
serious stress fracture. Our advice: if your child routinely says
that he's not feeling well, then find out why. See a doctor if you
notice persistent complaints (say, if his lower back is aching three
days straight), any swelling, or limping. And go head to head with
any coach who wants your child to participate in risky practices such
as: head-first "spear" tackling in football; heading the ball in
soccer under the age of six; pitching more than three innings in
baseball under the age of 10, or more than six innings under the age
of 14; and body-checking in hockey under the age of 12. Small Talk is
a weekly column of safety and health information for parents and
other caregivers for children. It is a community service of the Penn
State Children's Hospital, located at The Milton S. Hershey Medical
Center in Hershey, Pa. Please direct any comments or questions to
Patricia Millner, director of nursing at the Penn State Children's
Hospital, at mailto:pmillner@psu.edu.
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STRESS MANAGEMENT: What To Do About It
Everyone experiences stress - some at home and in the family; some at work;
some individual. Personality differences, organizational or family hassles, job
requirements - these all contribute to stress.
Stress is one of the most harmful and dangerous threats to good health, well-
being and peace of mind. It is one of the most common ailments besetting the
human race. Of all the creatures on earth, only humans elect to ignore the
need to protect themselves from such danger.
We cannot avoid all forms of stress no matter how hard we try. However, the
body's built-in warning system can always be relied upon to signal the onset
of stress. It gives us warnings about safety. We know the warning signs, the
signals that tell us that stress is on the way and that we should prepare to
resist it - or at least to blunt its impact. However, unlike other creatures,
humans ignore their body's early warning system. As a result, stress takes its
toll. It can ruin a person's health, destroy peace of mind - even shorten life.
We cannot always run away from a stress-inducing situation. But, knowing
that stress is coming, and that it may linger long after the danger itself has
passed, gives us an advantage.
Stress impacts our personal effectiveness and well-being, our work performance,
health care costs and employee litigation. The effectiveness of work performance
is related to the level of stress experienced by a person. As stress increases,
performance tends to become more effective. However, there are diminishing
returns. When a certain point is reached, performance effectiveness begins to
decline; judgment becomes impaired; quality of thought is reduced; and the
excitement and challenge of work is lost. In other words, work becomes
DISTRESSFUL. DISTRESS is negative stress. It can reduce performance
effectiveness. Eventually, it can result in physical and emotional symptoms of
stress.
Three of the most prescribed drugs in the United States today are Valium,
Inderal and Tagamet. These drugs are used to treat anxiety, hypertension and
ulcers. These conditions can be exacerbated by individual life style choices
such as smoking, excessive drinking, poor diet and elevated stress levels. What
this means to business and industry is increased health care related expenses
in the hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars a year nationally. This cost is borne
primarily by private enterprise. Premature deaths, absenteeism and illness
cost over $50 billion dollars a year in salaries alone.
Society in the United States in recent years has seen a large increase in
litigation resulting from stress-related court cases. Industry leaders have been
stunned by legal judgments which have attributed liability for stress-related
illnesses directly to corporate management. This has increased the costs of
health care burdens on U.S. corporations even higher.
What can be done about stress? How can we come to grips with our stress
and overcome it - permanently? Our most valuable weapon against the self-
destructiveness rooted in stress is EMOTIONAL COMMON SENSE. If we
understand our needs, drives, values and life style, we can develop ways
of relating to situations - and to people - which prevent stressful situations
or make it possible to eliminate them before any harm is done.
TENSION is a common signal of stress. We are about to explode, but we
don't. We let it boil inside us. It begins to take its toll. Tension which is
frequently experienced can interfere with concentration and eventually
results in a variety of ailments.
Hypertension, cardiac problems, ulcers, insomnia and headaches are all
symptoms of too much stress and the inability to escape from it. The
emotional anxieties which cripple many people (of all ages) go hand in
hand with excessive stress. Over the long term, anxiety is one of the most
disabling of all emotional discomforts.
Rage, anger, or going beyond your "boiling point" and "blowing your top"
are built into the nervous system. In children, anger is one typical response
to parental authority. In adults, it is generally experienced after feelings of
emotional hurt or humiliation. How to express anger "properly" is a common
emotional problem. Many people strike out in an exagerrated way. Others
are trained to ignore their feelings. Still others focus their anger at targets
that are totally inappropriate.
How do we deal with stress in these contexts? The first step is to break the
pattern of tension. To do this, we must determine the methods best suited
to our needs. For example, relaxation can close the door on hypertension
and stop it before it starts. We may not be able to control all our ailments,
but in proper application, we can learn to cope with stress, and achieve
deep relaxation.
Another means of dealing with stress is behavior modification. The idea
is that we can be taught to eliminate bad habits or fears by developing
"normal" responses. This retraining treats symptoms - for example,
fear of flying, stuttering, undue stress reactions, etc. All of these practices,
whether pursued individually or in groups, require a conscious effort to relax.
Generally, it takes a minimum of two weeks before results are experienced.
For many people, it takes several months before they find themselves able
to change some of their behavior. Total relaxation, total clearing of the
mind, can be practiced anywhere - on a train, a plane, even at a boring
movie or sports event.
Some maintain that professional training is an absolute necessity for one
seriously interested in any relaxation method. However, others contend
that all that's needed is a pinch of self-discipline to enable you to do it on
your own. Some insist that ten minutes practice twice a day - every day - is
just as effective as twenty twice a day. Others feel that thirty minutes once
a day will serve the purpose.
The approach you take must be one you feel comfortable with - and follow
consistently. To begin in an easy manner, you might try counting backwards
from ten to one. Exhale slowly each time you say a number.
Physical exercise is a vitally important adjunct to relaxation, as is a proper
diet. Anything from a rigid yoga routine to setting up exercises can provide
ample release from tension and stress. Whatever exercise chosen, it is
critically important to practice it consistently. Some experts claim that
jogging or something similar is all that is needed to break tension. They
claim that jogging can improve the response to stress and help overcome
depression. It also lowers the heart rate and blood pressure, improves
the heart muscle and is beneficial to the circulatory system.
Whatever exercise is chosen, one way to tell if it is vigorous enough to be
doing any good is to take a pulse immediately after finishing. Consult
your family doctor and establish what a healthy difference should be
between your normal pulse rate and the rate immediately after exercising.
MANAGING STRESS AND CHANGE
Stress in any organization can result from many different things or from one
really big thing. Change is often one of the major causes of stress in an
organization. This may be due to reorganization, changes in personnel, changes
in goals, difficulties in management, or a variety of other problems.
At one time or another, we all experience feelings of being overly involved
in trying to achieve certain goals. We try hard to accomplish something
important and may have some difficulty getting our goals across to others.
This often results in out attempting to accomplish it all by ourselves. Rather
than delegating tasks to others (which may or may not result in task completion),
we try to do it ourselves. This means that we tend to become more intense un
our personal commitment and spend both more time and personal involvement than
may be necessary. From a management standpoint, this can alienate those who
could provide needed expertise to an organization.
When organizations undergo significant changes, there are certain stressors
that are associated with these changes. Some of these include:
1. SENSE OF TIME URGENCY - Time urgency is a feeling of insistent demand
for your time and efforts. When this exists, you are likely to feel
compelled to do more and more, to produce, and to keep filling your
available hours as rapidly as possible with new tasks.
2. SEEKING DEADLINES AND PRESSURE - Here you are pushed to set unnecessary
and often unrealistic deadlines. Preference is shown for activities
which will tend to generate the maximum pressure for you to perform.
3. SETTING POORLY DEFINED GOALS - This is characteristic of people who
frequently act by throwing themselves into any available activity as
soon, and as completely, as possible without evaluating the outcome
or the use to be made of the goal when it is finally achieved.
4. AGGRESSION AND HOSTILITY - This occurs when your behavior becomes so
intense that any person or thing which gets in the way of the goal path
is met with aggression and anger, simply because it is not part of the
current commitment.
5. "POLYPHASIC" THINKING - This is a $100 word that merely means that you
tend to think (or worry) about many items at the same time and often
concentrate on the incomplete tasks ahead of you rather than the tasks
you are presently engaged in.
One or more of the above characteristics may cause you stress and/or cause
you to be an ineffective manager. Consider the following statements:
"I have very little time for hobbies which are 'nonproductive' in
nature."
"When I'm working, I always try to work on several jobs at the same
time."
"I feel that most people don't get enough done simply because they
don't work hard or long enough at it."
"If I run into a problem on a job, I generally move ahead as best I
can without asking for help or guidance."
"It never seems like I have enough time to finish all the things I
have started."
"When watching TV or reading, I feel nervous and guilty if I'm relaxing
and not working on something productive."
"I often rush into a job without getting all the details about what
is expected of me."
"I frequently need to wake up earlier or go to bed later in order to
complete all the jobs I have to do."
"If a job is taking too long because of unexpected delays, I get upset and
angry."
"It is my general feeling that I have taken on too many things to do
and will be lucky if I can finish them all."
If one or more of these statements is true for you, you may want to consider
methods of reducing the stress such behaviors cause. You may need to change how
how you react in common situations. Let's consider three initial techniques
you can use to do this:
1. SLOW DOWN AND REST - Break up the working day by setting aside specific
periods for a short rest and review of activities. Decide ahead of
time WHEN, WHERE and WHAT for each pause you intend to take. This involves
a commitment on your part. STICK TO IT!
2. GOAL ANALYSIS - This is the process of deciding whether specific things
that you are working on are really worth the effort, or are really
important as part of your life. Ask yourself: "Is the objective in
this case of small importance either to me personally or to my life?";
"Is it possible to set aside this task for some period in order to
concentrate on more important activities?" SET PRIORITIES!
3. ACTIVITY CONCENTRATION - Require yourself to select work activities in
terms of their life significance and concentrate your efforts only on
those items which are of real importance to you. The key is to try to
arrange the tasks remaining after your GOAL ANALYSIS into a ladder of
importance. Then concentrate your efforts on the tasks near the top
instead of attempting to act on all tasks at once. DO NO "SPREAD YOURSELF
TOO THIN."
If you decide that you want to change some of your approaches to stress, the
next step to consider is setting some personal goals. The following are
suggestions for making changes in the way you react to people, situations,
and events. Remember, these can work in other areas as well.
Focus mainly on living up to your own expectations. When you are tempted
to push yourself harder because of a lack of confidence in your own or someone
else's ability, step back and objectively appraise the job done so far. Make
sure that you have not lost sight of the original goals and are not just
caught up in the process of doing better.
The next time you find yourself spending lots of energy trying to get things
done to "PERFECTION", remember what you have read about ACTIVITY CONCENTRATION.
Try to be a little more flexible in your assessment of the relative importance
of various objectives.
Try to decrease the inappropriate feelings of obligation and responsibility
you may have when you approach an objective.
It will help temper your driving approach to job activities if you will
try to be more easygoing and less detached from the people surrounding you.
Accomplishment of goals depends on the performance, interaction and cooperation
of all involved. No organization is a one person operation. It involves everyone.
Sometimes this causes stress. Reducing that stress and accomplishing the goals
may require some changes in behavior. This can benefit both you and your
organization.
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For further information on this topic, use the link below to go to a search engine
and find books on this topic that you can order online. Begin by trying the following
descriptors: Stress, stress management, stress and work, stress and the family, stress
and concentration, stress and goals, stress and time, stress and change, stress and
relaxation, stress and rest, stress and deadlines, stress and pressure, etc.
https://www.angelfire.com/biz/odochartaigh/searchbooks.html
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Contact your local Mental Health Center or
check the yellow pages for counselors, psychologists,
therapists, and other Mental health Professionals in
your area for further information.
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George W. Doherty
O'Dochartaigh Associates
Box 786
Laramie, WY 82073-0786
MENTAL HEALTH MOMENT Online: https://www.angelfire.com/biz3/news
