ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION DISASTER MENTAL HEALTH NEWSLETTER
Learning From The Past and Planning For The Future
MENTAL HEALTH MOMENT
June 1, 2001
"The best way to cheer yourself up: Cheer everybody else up."
- Mark Twain
*****************************************************************************************
The Health Psychology Research and Information Network
http://www.healthpsychology.net
This site is an information center that supports the exchange of research
in health psychology and behavioral medicine. The site includes abstracts
of poster presentations, papers, and other university-based research, and
enables visitors to contact researchers online. The site lists upcoming
meetings and conferences on health psychology, and links to additional
Web sites on health psychology and behavioral medicine.
* * * * * * * * * *
The American Council on Education Fellows Program has
announced that application and nomination materials for 2002-03 will be
available in August. The program identifies and prepares senior faculty
and administrators for senior-level positions in colleges and universities.
Institution presidents may nominate two fellows. Fellowship guidelines
are now available. Contact: ACE Fellows Program, One Dupont
Circle, Washington, D.C. 20036-1193; (202) 939-9420;
email: fellows@ace.nche.edu Web site: http://www.acenet.edu
* * * * * * * * * *
SMALL TALK: IS YOUR KID A COMPUTER POTATO?
A recent study projected that kids aged 10 to 16 now will ultimately
have 31 percent fewer face-to-face interactions with others than the
generation before them because of time spent at the computer. Most
parents want to raise techno-savvy kids. "But interactions with
people, not PCs, are needed to build social skills and enhance
emotional development," says Stanley I. Greenspan, M.D., an author of
The Irreducible Needs of Children. He suggests that limits on
computer (except for big homework projects) and television use so
kids get time to play with real-life pals, too. One- to
five-year-olds are advised to have no more than a half hour of screen
time each day; one hour for six- to nine-year-olds; and two hours for
10- to 16-year-olds. "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
pmillner@psu.edu.
* * * * * * * * * *
SUMMER COURSE on DISASTER SERVICES and Crisis Intervention in Disasters
A one credit course offered through the Counselor Education Department
at the University of Wyoming for upper level and graduate credit. The
course will be offered on July 27-28, 2001. See the online flier for more
details at: https://www.angelfire.com/biz3/news/flier.html
Also, the information about the course and registration can be accessed
at: http://www.uwyo.edu/summer
The course is listed under Counselor Education.
* * * * * * * * * *
June 11-14, 2001: Cultural Community Project: ASMARTE, Havana
ASMARTE is a community development project, sponsored by the Havana
University psychology department, that addresses issues related to asthma.
Contact: Orlando Licea; Email: asma@psico.uh.cu
* * * * * * * * * *
*****************************************************************************************
SPECIFIC SOLUTIONS TO STRESSFUL SITUATIONS
Specific situations that cause stress should be approached directly. A practical
solution may be possible. An example might be 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.
Practical Solutions
KnowledgeSkills
Taking courses, workshops and talking with friends, co-workers, and family can help
develop and improve interpersonal and work skills.
Restructuring
Some stressful situations are not even necessary. Stressful states do not encourage
rational approaches. Standing back and gaining perspective (which is easier with
the help of peers) often results in a realization that the situation can be dealt
with in another, less stressful manner. Some stressful tasks can be done by others
such as bookkeepers, cleaning services, and accountants. Other situations can
and perhaps should be eliminated. A worker who becomes a nervous wreck doing
planning or work groups or an angry, resentful person working Saturdays does
have the option of stopping the stressful activity.
Reducing Stressful Feelings
When no practical solution to a stressful situation can be found and the activity
cannot be given to someone else or eliminated, the next step is to work on
reducing the feeling state surrounding the situation. This can be done by
desensitizing or by working directly on the feeling.
Desensitization
The emotional charge related to a situation or activity can be reduced. Three
simple methods that can be used without outside help are described below,
with specific instructions that you can follow to try each method yourself.
Affirmation and Chanting
Imagine the positive change you want in your own behavior: handling a
situation calmly, feeling calm and competent, asserting yourself, or making
whatever other change in yourself would eliminate the stress. Formulate one
to three positive statements describing your goal. For example, "I am allowed
to say no." "I am comfortable with clients'/customers'/workers' anger." "I am
entitled to be well paid for what I do." "I am happy working on Saturdays -
the results are worth it." Do not use negative suggestions such as "I am not
afraid of clients'/customers'/workers' anger." Write down your affirmations and
repeat them to yourself at least twice a day. The times just after waking and
before sleeping can be especially effective. Don't worry if you do not believe
what you are saying. Keep putting in the positive message and eventually it
will become real.
An especially effective way to use affirmations is by chanting them. Reduce
your statement to two to eight beats - for example, "I am/ happy/ with my/ work,"
or "I/ deserve/ to be/ well paid." As you walk, start chanting your message silently
in rhythm with your steps, over and over. You will find yourself chanting and
also thinking of other things. The chant will become almost unconscious, in
rhythm with your walking and breathing. Your goal is to have it stay in your
head the way a song sometimes does. When it is in tune with your breathing,
you will find yourself repeating it over and over, beneath your other mental
activity, even when you are not walking. It will become a part of you in the
same way your unconscious negative messages have been a part of you, and
you can begin to replace them.
Fantasy
Fantasize handling the situation the way you want to. Rehearse in your mind,
over and over, the feelings you want to feel and the behavior you want to
demonstrate. Block out fears and anxieties. This is just a fantasy and you can
do whatever you wish. Make this picture a part of you and it can change your
behavior.
Creating A Peaceful Place
Give yourself, in your imagination, a special place where you are totally calm
and relaxed. It can be a place you have actually been to, seen in a movie, or
heard or read about or a place you create just for yourself: on a beach, by a
lake, in the woods, on a mountain, or in a special room. Even if other people
are around, you must be alone and not eating or drinking or smoking anything.
In your mind, create it in all its completeness - see the surroundings, the light
and the color; hear the sounds; smell the scents; taste the flavor of the air and
your sweat if you are hot; feel the wind, the temperature of the air, and the
ground. Write out a complete description of your special peaceful place. Focus
on it until you can experience yourself as fully there.
Then, choose a minor stressful situation and fantasize it until you are fully
experiencing it. Be aware of the change in your body. When you are completely
involved in the stressful situation, switch back to the peaceful scene. Focus on
it until you can once again be there totally. Then return to the stressful scene.
Go back and forth five times.
Repeat this procedure at least twice each day. The stressful scene will become
boring and you will have more and more difficulty feeling upset. When you
encounter the situation in real life, it will lose its power.
When this situation is desensitized, choose another. Build up from minor
situations with relatively mild stress to those that are most upsetting.
Therapy
If desensitization does not work, therapy is the next step. Something about the
stressful situation is familiar, causing an old response that knowledge, skill,
and desensitization cannot overcome. Unless you would rather live with the
stress, the time has come to uncover the cause. Confront the issues and take
your problem into therapy.
*********************************************************************************************
For further information on this topic, go to the search engine below to look
for and purchase books online. Begin by trying the following descriptors:
Desenstization and stress, chanting and stress, stress reduction, stress and
therapy, fantasy and stress, restructuring stress, relaxation training, etc.
https://www.angelfire.com/biz/odochartaigh/searchbooks.html
*********************************************************************************************
*********************************************************************************************
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.
*********************************************************************************************
George W. Doherty
O'Dochartaigh Associates
Box 786
Laramie, WY 82073-0786
MENTAL HEALTH MOMENT Online: https://www.angelfire.com/biz3/news
