Stress, Coping Communication Essay Example

Stress, Coping Communication Essay Man is a social animal living in a human culture. In this culture, he has to maintain his social and internal homeostasis in continuous communication with his fellowmen and, especially with key figures in social sub groups to which he belongs. Every society and every social sub group has its own psychosocial stressors that consist of behavior patterns of its members, which require more than the usual cognitive, appraisal, anticipation and adaptive behavior. Successful coping with these stressors leads to gratification, failure to cope leads to frustration. While categorizing stress, good stress or eustress provides stimulation and challenges, and is essential to development, growth and change. Bad stress or distress prompts psychological and physiological changes of an undesirable nature.Some people, however, can withstand, more stress than others. Dr. Hans Selye, founder of modern studies on Stress, revealed that as the stress starts taking its toll there are three very evident stag es through which the person goes through. These phases are: The Alarm, the Resistance, and the Exhaustion phase. The Alarm Phase: The Alarm phase is characterized by the triggering on the Stress Alert System (the fight or flight response). There is thus an over activity of the sympathetic nervous system, and the simultaneous inhibition of the parasympathetic nervous system. Alarm is generated in the body and the whole bodies starts preparing for a fight or take a flight. There is a flush of energy, and all activities are speeded up. The pressure is evident and could be seen in his excitement or fear. Adrenaline and cortical increase, blood flows away from brain to muscles, dendrites shrink back in the brain as a way of moderating the flow of information, slowing or shutting down of nonessential body functions (e.g. gastrointestinal and sexual systems)  takes place. The Resistance Phase: There are adaptive efforts by the body to cope with or resolve stressor.Because of the continui ty of the stressful conditions there is depletion of energy, the person feels run down. As the pressure mounts he struggles to meet the various demands expected of him. He starts getting bouts of irritation, there is over-reaction to minor issues, sleep pattern starts getting altered and he starts getting weaker both mentally physically. Others observe very clear physical, psychological and behavioral changes. The Exhaustion Phase: When the stressful condition prolongs, and even after observing distinct symptoms of resistance phase, appropriate measures are not resorted to, then the Exhaustion phase takes over. The person feels fully exhausted tired. This may go even to the extent of absence of all enthusiasm to work or even to live. Psychosomatic diseases take roots.There is emotional breakdown, insomnia, heart BP complications, and host of other very painful symptoms associated with burnout. If stress persists reserves of energy are used. Self-medication and self-comforting co ping skills are utilized.   In an advance stage Energy reserves are depleted. Body systems begin to malfunction and there is a much greater susceptibility to serious illnesses.   Normal process in which the stomach lining constantly replenishes itself to counteract digestive fluids is put on hold. A good example of this comes from management staff of companies. An executive of middle grade in multinational company is not naturally stress resistant or don’t have learned how to handle the pressure without letting it. He shows stress symptoms, like ulcers, high blood pressure, tension, burnout and so on due to great work pressures.There is no single symptom that can identify stress. Physical symptoms occur as your body adapts to perceived physical threat, and are caused by release of adrenaline. Although client may perceive these as unpleasant and negative, they are signs that his body is ready for the explosive action that assists survival or high performance: Dry Mouth, C ool skin, Cold hands and feet Increased sweating, rapid breathing, Faster heart beat, tense muscles, feelings of nausea, or Butterflies in stomach diarrhea a desire to urinate. Long-term physical symptoms occur where client’s body has been exposed to adrenaline over a long period. These symptoms are: Insomnia, change in appetite, sexual disorders, aches and pains, frequent colds, illnesses such as: asthma, low back pain, digestive problems, headaches, feelings of intense and long-term tiredness, Muscle tension, Pains in chest, Muscle spasms or nervous tics, Unexplained rashes or skin irritations Shortness of breath, Sweaty palms.Psychosomatic illnesses are disorders that are rooted in psychological disturbance and distress in day-to-day life, vis-à  -vis personal, family or work. Psychosomatic or Somatoform disorders are among the most common psychiatric disorders found in general practice. It is a condition of dysfunction or structural damage in bodily organs through inappr opriate activation of the involuntary nervous system and the glands of internal secretion. Some physical diseases are thought to be particularly prone to be made worse by mental factors such as stress. The commonest form of the psychosomatic illness is gastric ulcers, which can be traced to stress. Hyperactivity, constipation, indigestion or even irritable bowel syndrome most of the time has roots in mental distress. Psychosomatic illness can take any form — even something seemingly unrelated as skin irritation, dermatitis of scalp or even finger infection. ‘‘High adrenaline can spoil your kidneys as well. According to the DSM II classification, psycho-physiologic disorder are Skin disorders, Muscle skeletal disorders, Respiratory disorders, Cardiovascular disorders, Genitourinary disorders, Endocrine disorders, Disorders of organ of special sense Chronic conjunctivitis, Disorder of other types Disturbances in the nervous system in which emotional factors play a significant role, such as multiple sclerosis. Sometimes a physical symptom is a metaphor for the persons psychological problem, as when a person with a broken heart experiences chest pain. Other times, a physical symptom reflects identification with another persons pain.Coping strategies refer to the specific efforts, both behavioral and psychological, that people employ to master, tolerate, reduce, or minimize stressful events. Coping strategies are employed in a variety of threatening situations. Healthy Ways of Coping with Stress  are- find a quite place and go there, frequently if needed, Write in a Journal, Go for a long walk or run. Notice how your body is feeling, you’re breathing, how your legs are moving. Enjoy being out in nature.  Ã‚  . Laugh uproariously at least once a day. Talk to someonea friend, family member, counselor, or clergy member, even a pet or stuffed animal.General coping strategies have been distinguished as: Appraisal focus strategy approach t o coping is based on a mental process of how the individual appraises the situation. Where the level of appraisal determines the level of stress and the unique coping strategies that the individual partakes. (Lazarus Folkman, 1984). An appraisal is made when the individual makes a conscious evaluation of the matter at hand. The individual asks him/herself What can I do? by evaluating the coping resources around him/her. These resources include, physical resources, such as how healthy one is, or how much energy one has, social resources. There are many ways of to approach coping from a cognitive perspective such as that of constructive and destructive thinking as conceptualized by Epstein and Meier (1989) a similar concept to that of optimistic versus pessimistic (Taylor, 1991). All of us seem to have plenty of should. eg. I should always be nice, I should always be polite, etc., which are the product of our upbringing as well as expectations of ourselves and other people. Discover what your should are and determine if they are realistic or necessary Learn to think differently about things think how a friend with a sense of humor would look at it.Problem-focus strategy is an effort to do something active to alleviate stressful circumstances. Using problem solving approach, the problem solver proceeds through basic steps: Define the problem: Whats wrong? Implement the solution: Fix it! Evaluate the fix: Did it work? In solving problems, person tries to transform a given situation to a desired one, Seeking social support, enhancing time management, improving self-control and become more assertive. For example, people typically employ problem-focused coping to deal with potential controllable problems such as work-related problems and family-related problems. Theres a myriad of different relaxation techniques that can be used to combat stress. The common threads that run through them are that they calm and improve the breathing, relax the muscles, and clear the mind; time management is about setting goals carefully, and then arranging work into high and low priority, depending on how it relates to those goals. We must be ruthless, ensuring that we plan how we can meet the deadlines in our important work as well as work on long-term goals. You have to recognize the symptoms of stress. Next, you have to believe that your thinking can both block and promote your ability to cope.Coping strategies involve restructuring your thoughts Emotion-focused coping strategies involve efforts to regulate the emotional consequences of stressful or potentially stressful events. Major components of successful emotional coping are awareness of the situations that trigger stress; recognition of developing stress; availability/access to and use of coping strategies. For example, a successful adult with learning disabilities in our study manages her anxiety attacks by recognizing that reading aloud in a group triggers anxiety, physical symptoms such as rapid bre athing are signs of stress, and slow deep breathing reduces her anxiety. The client must use techniques like meditation, using systematic relaxation procedures. For example, stressors perceived as less controllable, such as certain kinds of physical health problems, prompt more emotion-focused coping. Research indicates that people use these types of strategies to combat most stressful events (Folkman Lazarus, 1980).   .Aspects of communication (Verbal Non-Verbal)Communication consists of signals made by one organism that have meaning for other organisms and affect their behavior. Research indicates more communication occurs from body language and the tone of a persons voice than from what is said. Linguists refer to auxiliary communication devices as paralanguage. Communication with people from other societies or ethnic groups is fraught with the danger of misunderstanding if their culture and paralanguage is unknown to you or ignored. The impact of culture-sameness, gender, fo reign travel, and academic background on the ability to interpret facial expression of emotion in others are observed in communication. Verbal communication requires the use of words, vocabulary, numbers and symbols and is organized in sentences using language. Mastering linguistic skill is not reserved for the selected few but is a skill that each and every one should develop to improve relationships and interactions. Everyone’s brain is forever having thoughts and they are primarily with words. Words spoken, listened to or written affect your life as well as others. They have the power to create emotions and move people to take action. When verbal communication is delivered accurately and clearly, you activate the mind and encourage creativity. People can establish leadership and credibility through nonverbal communication skills and environmental factors.A cue is a type of communication used by an adult to let a child know what is expected of him/her in a given situation. Cues are a type of receptive communication. Touch cues are ways an adult can touch a child to communicate a desired action. A sensory cues is some sensory input used to help a child anticipate an event: For example, a smell of lotion before it is applied to the childs arm or the sound of water splashing before placing the child in the bathtub. Object cues are some concrete piece of a routine that is used to represent that routine. Signals are movements the child uses to communicate needs, desires and feelings to adults. Signals are a form of expressive communication. Symbols are representations of an event, action, object, person, or place that can be used to communicate about the event, action, object, person, or place. Symbols can be used for both receptive and expressive communication.The first habit of good listening is to pay attention to the person who is speaking. Good listening includes acting in a way that is considerate of the other person. As a part of listening, you shou ld seek to help the person feel good about them. You must also be aware of cultural differences. Body postures, eye contact, distance between people, may all mean different things to people from different cultures. Listen for the persons entire meaning rather than to simply understand content. Pay full attention to nonverbal cues and the tone of the persons voice. To deepen your individual and the groups understanding of a persons message, consider reflecting back to the member without judging or evaluating. The important factors constitutes for effective speaking are Your audience is there to hear your message, relax and deliver that message, instead of focusing on yourself, make sure that your speech is right for your audience. Set good examples and encourage the young people to take responsibility for their future, be natural and animated. Use hand gestures, drink water, and move around a little, make eye contact with the audience, Practice your speech ahead of time.