ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION DISASTER MENTAL HEALTH NEWSLETTER

Learning From The Past and Planning For The Future


MENTAL HEALTH MOMENT
May 25, 2001

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This week-end is Memorial Day Week-end. Take a few moments to
remember those loved ones and service men and women who have
gone before and made all this possible for us.
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"It's a funny thing about life: If you refuse to accept anything
but the best, you very often get it." - Somerset Maugham

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Eating Disorders on Campus: The Institutional Response, June 8-9
  Experts will focus on the latest developments in prevention and
  treatment of eating disorders among high school and college students.
  Designed for student health and college counseling
  professionals-including psychologists, physicians, nurses, health
  educators, dietitians, and secondary counselors and teachers. To
  receive a brochure, call 800-PSU-TODAY (778-8632). For more
  information, visit http://www.outreach.psu.edu/C&I/EatingDisorders.
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  Integrating the Arts across the Curriculum: An Institute for
  Teachers, July 9-13
  Elementary and secondary teachers and administrators will learn about
  how integrating the arts into the curriculum can help students
  develop fundamental learning skills. Elliot Eisner, professor of art
  and education at Stanford University and a leading expert on how the
  arts can offer educators a powerful tool for instruction, will
  discuss the importance of Multiple Intelligence Theory. To receive a
  brochure, call 800-PSU-TODAY (778-8632). For more information, visit
  http://www.outreach.psu.edu/C&I/IntegratingTheArts.
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 SMALL TALK: ENJOY SHOPPING WITH YOUR CHILDREN

  A family trip to the market doesn't have to mean mayhem. The key to
  preventing whining and tantrums is to plan ahead. Try these tips:

  - Be specific about your expectations ("No whining or running") and
  the reward for cooperation ("one gumball at the checkout");

  - Give your child her own shopping list and cart. Older kids will
  enjoy adding up purchases with a calculator and letting you know if
  you've stayed on budget;

  - If kids misbehave, leave immediately, but don't go home. Ask a
  cashier to watch your cart, then use your car for a time-out. You
  probably won't have to do it again.

  "Small Talk," a weekly column of safety and health information for
  parents and other caregivers for children, is a community service of
  the Penn State Children's Hospital at The Milton S. Hershey Medical
  Center. Please direct any comments or questions to Patricia Millner,
  director of nursing, at mailto:pmillner@psu.edu.
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HANDLING STRESS ON THE JOB


Any event that requires change and rapid adaptation taxes the physical
and mental systems of the body and causes stress. Not all stressful situations
can or should be avoided, and not all stress responses cause long-term
tension. During stressful periods the entire physiology functions as if life
itself were in danger. When a source of stress is clear, action is taken, the
challenge is met, and the individual returns quickly to a normal functioning
level. But when the cause of the stress is not defined, there is often not 
enough opportunity to identify the problem, take action, and recover. 
When too many adjustments must be made in too brief a period of time,
tension and stress develop because there is not enough time to recover.
Prolonged, unabated stress eventually causes physical disorders as well
as emotional discomfort. These physical problems, which include ulcers,
colitis, asthma, hay fever, hyperthyroidism, and migraine headaches,
occur because of the way continuing stress affects the body. They can
also begin when an individual, repeatedly confronted with a situation
that seems unresolvable (a "double-bind"), experiences the situation as
both unavoidable and overwhelming and develops a psychosomatic
disorder that can incapacitate and provide a means of escape. This less
than conscious choice, which initially has positive results, can be
automatically repeated over time and can become a seemingly unavoidable
illness as the body automatically responds to stress with a major dysfunction.
Reducing stress and stress-related responses can prevent and alleviate
stress-related illness. There are four steps in stress reduction:

         1. self awareness

         2. specific solutions to stressful situations

         3. general relaxation

         4. deep relaxation


Self Awareness

The first step in stress reduction is self-awareness. If you want to reduce stress
you must first understand yourself:

   * How do you respond to stressful situations?

   * How often do you experience stress?

   * Are you more frequently angry (fight response) or frightened (flight response)?

   * What are the physical symptoms you experience from short-term stress?
     From long-term stress?

   * How do you know when you cannot handle any more stress?

   * What do you do to reduce your stress reactions?

   * What nonfunctional stress behavior do you use to respond to stress?

   * Do you run away into work, food, sex, alcohol, drugs, illness, or other
     avoidance behavior?

   * How do you utilize your support system to help solve your problems?
     To help you handle the stress?

   * What specific situations are especially stressful for you?

   * What can you find out about the underlying causes of your undefined stress?

You can become more aware of how stress affects you by analyzing, alone
and with the help of friends, family, peers, and supervisors, how you usually
handle stressful situations, how your body responds to stress, which situations
cause you stress, and what causes your generalized stress reactions.


Specific Solutions To Stressful Situations

Stressful reactions can be treated as disasters or as opportunities for growth.
Specific situations that cause stress should be approached directly. A practical
solution may be possible: increased knowledge or skills to deal with the situation
or a restructuring that allows either elimination of the stressful activity or
accomplishment of the requirement by someone else. If the problem cannot 
be solved practically, reduction of the stress reaction through desensitization
or therapy may be possible.


General Relaxation

A more relaxed life can help reduce stress. Let yourself know what is too much
for you. Set limits, Schedule breaks into each day, week, month and year, and
use them to be good to yourself. Everyone should have at least one entire day,
prefereably two, each week that is completely free of work-related issues. Vacations
are essential. If finding time for yourself seems impossible, you might want to
explore the possible reasons such time would be threatening.


Deep Relaxation

Some forms of relaxation can actually cause positive changes in breath, heart
rate, and blood pressure and dramatically reduce the effects of stress. For
maximum effect they should be undertaken with the help of someone well
trained in the method you choose. Because a positive attitude will increase
your chance of success, you should choose a method you can believe in.


Too much stress causes emotional discomfort and physical disorders. These
stressful problems offer opportunities for self-discovery and growth. For these
opportunities, as well as for physical and emotional reasons, the stresses
should be explored.

You can become aware of how you respond to stress and of the situations that
stress you. These situations can be dealt with by learning information and skills, 
restructuring to eliminate the need for the situation to occur, getting someone
else to handle it, desensitizing yourself, or taking the problem into personal
psychotherapy. An increased state of general relaxation can be obtained by
taking charge of your daily and weekly schedule, setting limits, developing
pleasant activities and surroundings, and setting and assessing positive goals.
Deep relaxation through self-hypnosis, meditation, and/or biofeedback can
produce changes in the way the body responds to stress and can lead to higher
states of awareness.
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For further information on this topic, use the search engine at the url below
to find and purchase books on this topic. Begin by trying the following
descriptors: job-related stress, stress symptoms, stress and emotions, stress and
illness, "double-binds", stress and awareness, stress and behavior, stress and
alcohol, stress and drugs, stress and relaxation, deep relaxation, meditation,
biofeedback and stress, stress and solutions, stress and imagery, stress and
thinking, stress and thoughts, stress and interpersonal skills, stress and illness,
stress and health, stress and therapy, stress and attitude, 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