WHO SUFFERS FROM STRESS?
100%
RECOGNISING STRESS
• 68% don’t recognise
when they’re stressed.
• Only 16% expect
colleagues to recognise
when they’re stressed.
STRESS DEFINITION
The response we have when the amount of
pressure or demand placed on us is more than
we can cope with.
SCIENCE OF STRESS
CORTISOL
SOURCES OF STRESS
•INTERNAL
• EXTERNAL
SOURCES OF STRESS
EXTERNAL
INTERNAL
Major Life Changes – marriage, moving home,
divorce, serious health problems, death.
Fear – eg. Fear of flying or public speaking.
Fear of failure, not being or having enough and
fear of losing what you have.
Family – arguments at home with partner,
screaming babies, sibling squabbles, teenagers
who won’t co-operate, nagging parents.
Lack of Control/Uncertainty - few people
enjoy not knowing what might happen or not
having control over their lives.
Environment – input from the world around us
e.g. Noisy neighbours, barking dog, too much
or too little light in a room.
Beliefs – attitudes, opinions, behaviours can set
you up for stress. E.g. Belief that you MUST
iron the sheets, or achieve the best in the class.
Social – just think about going on a blind date
and you probably start to sweat!
Perfectionism- being afraid of doings things
less than perfectly can cause extreme stress.
Technology – laptops, smart phones, Ipads all
make us available 24/7 causing everyday stress.
Constantly checking for mail, tweets or FB
updates keeps us edgy.
Procrastination – makes you more stressed as
you get more and more behind with tasks so
they pile up and intensify. If it gets severe it
can stop you doing things you are capable of.
HSE’s Top 6 Workplace Stressors
1. Demands of the job.
2. Autonomy/How much control you have.
3. Support you receive from managers and
colleagues.
4. Relationships at work.
5. Role – whether fits expectations, whether
title fits role and whether role has meaning.
6. Change and how it is managed.
Personality Traits/Learned Behaviours
•
External Locus of Control – believe what happens to them is fate/luck – suffer
more stress.
•
Internal Locus of Control – what happens to them is through own effort and
decisions.
•
Generally those who suffer less stress tend to have:
• Internal Locus of Control
• High levels of self efficacy
• Hardiness
• Optimistic
•
These are not “fixed” personality traits – but learned behaviours and can be
changed.
PERCEPTION OF STRESS
STRESSOR
The life situation or demand which might cause problems.
PERCEPTION OR APPRAISAL
How we view the stressor and see it as relating to us.
STRESS RESPONSE
The way our thinking, our feelings, our bodies and our behaviour
change.
SIGNS & SYMPTOMS
•
•
•
•
Psychological
Emotional
Behavioural
Physical
How do you react to stress?
Psychological
Emotional
Behavioural
Physical
Symptoms
e.g. worry and
anxiety;
depression
e.g. anger,
crying, feeling
lonely or
isolated
e.g. over or
under eating,
drinking too
much alcohol,
smoking
e.g. clench jaw or
fist, tension in
muscles especially
shoulders & neck,
headache,
insomnia,
Frequency
0= never
10= all the
time
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Severity
0=not at
all
10=worst
it could be
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
COPING METHODS
•
•
•
•
Emotion based
Stress carrying
Avoidance based
Problem based
COPING METHODS
• Emotion based- manage the emotion e.g. talk about
how they feel, sympathy and support from others,
letting emotions out, meditation, exercise.
• Stress carrying - take emotions out on others e.g.
shouting, moody, not talking.
• Avoidance based - denial, pretend everything is OK,
retreat into fantasies; drink or drugs or binge eating.
• Problem based - doing something to tackle the
source of the stress constructively; may do on your
own or seek help of others.
Changing Stress-related Thinking
Thinking Error
Meaning
Example
Catastrophising
You assume the worst case scenario.
“What if I don’t do a good job
– I’ll get fired!”
All or Nothing thinking
Things are black or white with no
shades of grey.
“Everything is a total disaster.”
Overgeneralisation
On the basis of a single fact you
assume negative patterns will follow.
“After failing my driving test I
just know nothing is going to
go right for me today.”
Mind reading
Assuming you know what the other
person is thinking
“He thinks I can’t do my job
and he’s going to fire me!”
Fortune Telling
You believe you have the ability to
look into the future and predict what
will happen.
“I just know that this is going
to go horribly wrong.”
Emotional Reasoning
You assume an emotion = fact.
“I feel anxious so something
bad is going to happen.”
Discounting the Positive You discount any evidence that
contradicts your worrying thoughts.
“I know nothing bad has
happened yet, but it could still
all go wrong.”
Changing Stress-related Behaviour
• Mind body connection.
• What we DO rather than what we SAY sends
powerful messages about how we FEEL.
• If SAY we are confident, we must ACT confidently
too.
• Base behaviour on new thoughts, not old ones.
• Get out of comfort zone, into stretch zone – the
more we are in stretch zone, the bigger our
comfort zone grows.
Visualisation