And the profession of a psychoanalyst is one of the three most demanded in economically developed countries. The problem of mental disorders and stress is receiving more and more attention all over the world. It's time for you to find out...
What is stress
Stress is a mental state that occurs under the influence of difficult life situations. The concept of "stress" was first introduced by the Canadian physiologist Hans Selye in 1946. Stress is so common that it doesn't need much explanation. But some points need to be clarified.
There are positive (eustress) and negative (distress) forms of stress. Eustress has two meanings - "stress caused by positive emotions" and "mild stress that mobilizes the body." This type of stress is considered beneficial to health. Distress is a negative form of stress that the body cannot cope with. It is distress that destroys human health and can lead to serious illnesses.
A person, getting into a stressful situation, goes through its three stages: the stage of anxiety, the stage of resistance and, finally, the stage of exhaustion. The first helps to adapt to a new state by mobilizing the body, the second stage, when the human body resists the negative effects of stress, and the third, as the name implies, the stress stage in which human health goes downhill. The first two are also called the adaptation stage, and the third - the implementation stage.
About a person who is in a state of chronic stress, doctors say: “Stuck in the implementation stage.” This means that stress becomes the master of consciousness: a person always returns with his thoughts to the trouble that has befallen him and cannot escape from the captivity of experiences and painful memories. cannot but affect his health.
Prolonged stress harms the cardiovascular system, leads to a weakening of the immune system, while metabolic processes slow down, and there are problems with the digestive organs. Stress is often the cause of external manifestations such as acne, allergies, nervous itching, skin deterioration and hair loss.
Who is stressed
Life does not stand still, the world is becoming more complicated, the number of factors affecting a person is growing exponentially, as a result, more and more people, unable to cope with the given pace and rhythm of life, are experiencing stress. And certain groups of people are even more dependent on external influences, which means they need to be more careful. These should include:
- people in positions of responsibility
- knowledge workers
- urban residents, especially metropolitan areas and capitals
- the elderly, children and adolescents
- people with low self-esteem
- extroverts
- neurotics
- people who abuse alcohol
- people with a genetic predisposition to stress
- people who grew up in dysfunctional families
- women (experience stress three times more often than men)
What are the symptoms of stress
The main symptoms of stress include:
- lethargy
- irritability
- fast fatiguability
- changeable mood
- headache
- unwillingness to do something
- loss of faith in the improvement of the situation in the future
- excited state, willingness to take risks
- intellectual decline
What are the sources of stress
- small daily annoyances
- feeling of constant pressure
- excessive demands on oneself
- monotonous work
- hard work
- work with a large share of responsibility in conditions of time pressure
- financial difficulties
- strong positive emotions
- quarrels with people and especially with relatives
- important life events: promotion at work, graduation from school
- victories or defeats in career, sports, personal life
- conflict situations, quarrels, threats, communication with unpleasant people, etc.
- various diseases and injuries
- increased physical activity
- negativity sent by the media and television
- uncertainty about the future
How to protect yourself from stress
It is necessary to make a reservation: speaking of stress, they almost always mean the negative caused by it. But we already know that there is a healthy form of stress called eustress. It is probably foolish to defend yourself against this form of stress, so in the future, by “protection from stress” we will understand protection from distress.
In fact, stress is an integral part of life, we can say that while we are stressed, we live. Some events in our life replace others, the emotions that we experience at the same time vary in intensity and duration. Each person is free to choose how to react to this or that event. You can take care of yourself, not give vent to emotions, be calmer and more restrained, realizing that there is a place for unpleasant events in life, thereby reducing the effects of stress on health, or vice versa “burning brightly, but not for long.”
By virtue of nature, it is often not easy to get over yourself and not break loose, therefore, where possible, protect yourself from unnecessary excitement and overexcitation. You cannot save yourself from all troubles, but many can be avoided. Sometimes emotions run high. When you can control yourself, stop, remember about health.
Often, many seek solace in alcohol, start smoking. Therefore, remember: neither smoking nor alcohol can protect against stress, moreover, bad habits only exacerbate stress.
There are actually quite a few effective ways to deal with stress. Let's highlight the main ones:
- Physical activity. Move more and walk more often, go in for sports, any, because movement not only reduces stress, but also improves health.
- Laugh, watch comedies, spend more time where you have fun
- Get a pet
- Don't forget to eat healthy food. Start right with breakfast
- Feel free to say "no" because when a person always says "yes", he puts too much responsibility on himself.
- Get distracted - read good books, go to the cinema or theater, to exhibitions, spend more time with friends and family, but only with those with whom you feel comfortable
- Keep your back straight. Correct posture means that your body is more successful in overcoming nervous tension.
- have sex
- Listen to music
- Eat a bar of dark chocolate, it produces happy endorphins in the body
- And most importantly, do not keep in yourself what has accumulated and hangs like a dead weight on your soul, release it in any way and ... live, breathing in deeply
If the described methods do not help or even cause a feeling of disgust, then you should see a doctor. Don't sit back, it won't get any easier! An experienced doctor, if he cannot help himself, will prescribe the necessary medicines for you. Stress is a serious illness and it must be treated without delay.
Health to you physical and mental!
11.2. Causes and sources of stress
The list of causes of stress is endless. As stressors international conflicts, and the instability of the political situation in the country, and socio-economic crises can act. A significant part of the stress-provoking factors is related to the performance of our professional duties. There are organizational factors that can cause stress:
overload or too little workload;
conflict of roles (occurs if the employee is presented with conflicting requirements);
uncertainty of roles (the employee is not sure what is expected of him);
uninteresting work (a survey of 2,000 male workers in 23 occupations showed that those who have more interesting jobs show less anxiety and are less prone to physical ailments than those engaged in uninteresting work for them);
poor physical conditions (noise, cold, etc.);
wrong balance between authority and responsibility;
poor communication channels in the organization, etc.
Another group of stress factors could be called organizational and personal, since they express a person's subjective-anxious attitude to their professional activities. German psychologists W. Siegert and L. Lang identify several typical “fears” of workers:
fear of not being able to do the job;
fear of making a mistake;
fear of being bypassed by others;
fear of losing a job;
fear of losing one's self.
stressogens also unfavorable moral and psychological climate in the team, unresolved conflicts, lack of social support, etc.
To this "bouquet" of stressors of an organizational and production nature can be added and personal life problems person, providing many reasons for unfavorable emotions. Trouble in the family, health problems, "mid-life crisis" and other similar irritants are usually acutely experienced by a person and cause significant damage to his stress tolerance.
Thus, the causes of stress are not a special secret. The problem is how to prevent stress by acting on the causes that cause it. The basic rule here suggests itself: you need to clearly differ stressful events that we can somehow influence, from those that are clearly not in our power. It is clear that an individual, if he can influence the crisis situation in the country or in the world, the inevitable approaching retirement age, etc., is very insignificant. Therefore, such events should be left alone and focus on those stressors that we can actually change.
11.3. Prevention of stress in work situations
We get a significant part of stress as a result of conflicts generated by various production situations. At the same time, in any case, the "vertical" of business relations is affected: the head - the subordinate. After all, even if ordinary employees are in conflict with each other, the manager cannot but interfere in the course of resolving the conflict. Therefore, the recommendations for stress prevention formulated by management psychology are deployed, as it were, on two “fronts”: managers, whose duties are charged with reducing the level of stress among employees, and subordinates, who are asked to protect themselves from stress and not serve as stress givers for others.
To minimize the level of stress in the team, without reducing productivity, the leader should heed the following recommendations.
Think often about the accuracy of assessing the abilities and inclinations of your employees. Compliance with these qualities
the volume and complexity of assigned tasks is an important condition for the prevention of stress among subordinates.
Do not neglect the "bureaucracy", that is, a clear definition of the functions, powers and limits of responsibility of employees. This way you will prevent a lot of small conflicts and mutual insults.
Do not get annoyed if the employee refuses the assignment, it is better to discuss with him the validity of the refusal.
Show your trust and support to your subordinates as often as possible. (According to one American study, employees who experienced significant stress, but felt the support of their boss, got sick half as much during the year than those who did not notice such support.)
Use a leadership style that is appropriate for the specific work situation and the characteristics of the composition of employees.
In case of failures of employees, first of all, evaluate the circumstances in which the person acted, and not his personal qualities.
Do not exclude compromises, concessions, apologies from the arsenal of means of communication with subordinates.
Forbid yourself to use sarcasm, irony, humor directed at a subordinate.
If there is a need to criticize someone, do not lose sight of the rules of constructive and ethical criticism.
Periodically think about ways to relieve stress already accumulated by subordinates. Keep in mind the problems of rest of employees, the possibility of their emotional release, entertainment, etc.
The implementation by managers of these simple recommendations in principle can have a very significant impact on the level of stress in the team.
At the same time, for the same purposes, a step towards the bosses is proposed to be made by subordinates. People suffering from stress at work are usually offered something like this list of methods to minimize stress.
If you are not satisfied with the conditions and content of work, wages, promotion opportunities and other organizational factors, try to carefully analyze how realistic your organization's ability to improve these parameters is (that is, first find out if there is something to fight for).
Discuss your problems with colleagues, with management. Take care not to sound accusatory or complaining - you just want to solve a work problem that may not only concern you.
Do not hesitate to demand complete clarity and certainty from the management and colleagues in the essence of the tasks assigned to you.
If a production “role conflict” arises, that is, a deliberate inconsistency of the requirements (for example, you were assigned to write an important report, but you were not relieved of the obligation to answer the incessant phone calls of customers), do not bring the matter to a sad ending when you have to make excuses for non-compliance one task or another. Bring up the problem of incompatibility of the cases assigned to you immediately, focusing the attention of the management on the fact that in the end the business will suffer, and not you personally.
When you're working hard, look for opportunities to take a short break and rest. Experience shows that two 10-15 minute periods of relaxation per day are enough to maintain a high degree of performance.
It is also helpful to remember that failures at work are rarely fatal. When analyzing their reasons, it is better to compare yourself not with a tightrope walker who does not have the right to make a mistake, but with a football forward who, out of dozens of attempts to beat defenders, turns out to be successful only one or two. but even this number is sometimes enough. To gain experience from your own mistakes is your natural right (although not written in the constitution).
Be sure to discharge your negative emotions, but in socially acceptable ways. Socially approved management of one's emotions does not consist in suppressing them, but in the ability to find suitable channels for their withdrawal or release. When in a strong annoyance, do not slam the door and do not yell at colleagues, but find ways to take out your anger on something neutral: break a couple of pencils or start tearing up old papers, which, as a rule, are available in any organization in a considerable amount. Finally, wait for the evening or the weekend and give yourself any physical activity - preferably one where you need to hit something (football, volleyball, tennis, at worst, beating carpets will do).
Try not to mix personal and business relationships, etc.
Among such recommendations for reducing the level of stress, formulated by modern managerial and psychological thought, there are quite unexpected ones that run counter to generally accepted ideas. So, for example, it is widely believed that a strong family, a “strong rear”, in which an employee attacked by work stresses, finds comfort and support, is a fairly reliable protection against stresses received at work. However, everything is not so simple. American researchers Susan W. Kobasa and Mark K. Pyusetti, who examined about two hundred employees of middle management and above in one of the large companies, recorded a strange phenomenon. It turned out that workers who perceived their families as the biggest support had the highest rates of stress-related illnesses. This fact was confirmed even in relation to those who had such a social asset as a large salary or a high position. The essence of this situation was interpreted in such a way that the families of workers do not provide them with the kind of support that is required to overcome the stresses at work. While the production situation requires from them, say, discipline or mobilization of all forces, the family may maintain qualities that are not the most appropriate at such a moment - resentment towards colleagues and management, self-pity, shifting the blame onto others or circumstances, etc. . The conclusion is probably obvious: not all family support can serve as a reliable refuge from stress.
The recommendations listed above for the prevention of stress in involuntary working groups are of a fairly general nature. A specific stressful situation is always unique, since it is not least determined by the individuality of the stressed person (his temperament, character, behavioral style, etc.). In addition, our susceptibility to stress at work to a large extent depends on the general background of life, that is, on how successfully we are able to get out of stressful situations generated by general social, family, age and other factors. In fact, professional stress is just one of many types of stress that overcomes us. It certainly has its own specifics. But the physiological nature of stress is the same. Therefore, a person who is hardened in overcoming various life barriers and troubles must obviously cope with professional stressful situations more successfully than others.
Thus, one of the keys to success in overcoming work stress lies in general life strategy of the individual, based on the chosen basic values and taking into account the peculiarities of his personality. Since this issue is very serious, let's talk about it in more detail.
Questions for self-examination
Basic terms and concepts
Career formation.
Career success.
Career positions.
individual identification.
Career adaptability.
Career stages.
1. What is a "career"?
2. Describe the main stages of a career. What stage are you at?
3. What factors determine career success?
4. How can psychological and objective success be related?
5. In what areas can a person's career develop? Give an example.
2.4. Managing stress in an organization 6
Write in the main words with which you associate the concept of "stress" (Fig. 8).
___________________
6 The following sources are used in the chapter: , , , , , , , , , , .
Rice. 8. What is stress?
Stress has become more and more common in recent years. This term has become one of the most popular and has become a source of justified concern for company leaders. This is one of the most "expensive" types of costs for the company, negatively affecting both the health of employees and the company's profits.
Stress is a general term applicable to all forms of pressure experienced by individuals. Despite the existence of numerous definitions and disagreements about the content of the term, it can be considered that stress- a dynamic state due to the presence of difficulties or obstacles that complicate the achievement of desired results. Demonstration of stress are physiological, psychological and behavioral reactions caused by the primary cognitive assessment of the situation.
Stress factors are both in the reality surrounding a person and in his psychological environment. All sources of stress can be divided into three large groups:
External factors;
Factors depending on the organization;
Factors that depend on the employee himself.
External factors - these are, for example, armed conflicts and clashes, increased economic and political instability in society, inflation, and an increase in unemployment.
For example, according to the Department of Labor and Employment of the Moscow Government, more than half of the people who applied to the employment service in search of work experienced a state of stress and needed rehabilitation and socio-psychological support.
Organization-specific factors represent a very large group, which in turn can be divided into the following subgroups:
The nature of the work performed (the complexity of the tasks to be solved, independence in work, the degree of responsibility, working conditions: the degree of danger in the performance of work, the noise level, lighting, etc.);
Unclear distribution of roles (inconsistency between formally established and real requirements for the behavior of employees, role conflict);
Relationships in the team (lack of support, problems with communication);
Organizational structure (for example, the matrix structure of the organization, which involves dual subordination, is often a potential source of stress for an employee who is forced to simultaneously follow the orders of two managers);
Management style (methods of unjustified pressure and threats, accompanied by feelings of anxiety, fear, depression).
Factors that depend on the employee himself - these are personal problems, as well as specific qualities and character traits of the workers themselves.
In addition, factors that contribute to or, on the contrary, prevent the occurrence of stress can include:
Work experience;
Perception;
Support of colleagues, friends and relatives;
Active attempts to influence the situation in order to improve it;
degree of aggressiveness.
Work experience. It is said that experience is the best teacher; it can also be a fairly strong factor that prevents stress. As a rule, the longer employees work, the better they adapt to the conditions of work in the organization, more successfully overcome difficulties and remove obstacles in work.
Perception. Employees very often perceive the situation not as it really is, but as it seems to them at the moment. For example, one employee may perceive the upcoming dismissal due to staff reductions as a life tragedy, while another may be optimistic, hoping to quickly get a new job or create their own business.
It is natural that support from colleagues, friends and family helps relieve tension and overcome stress. This is especially important for those people who, in accordance with McClelland's theory of motivation, have a pronounced need for mutual understanding, friendship and communication.
Active attempts to influence the situation in order to improve it(behavior aimed at overcoming the difficulties and obstacles that have arisen), as a rule, contribute to the prevention of stress and reduce its level to a greater extent than a passive position of waiting and non-intervention in the situation.
To assess the level of stress and the causes of its occurrence, it is necessary to keep in mind that stress tends to accumulate. Sometimes a rather insignificant reason in itself, supplementing the already accumulated level of stress, can be the very “last straw”, after which extremely negative consequences occur. That is why, when analyzing stress, it is necessary to take into account the entire set of causes and circumstances that preceded its occurrence and caused certain consequences of stress.
According to the US National Institute of Mental Health, about 40 million adults in this country are prone to anxiety and worry, and even more are prone to various diseases associated with depression.
Why does modern man suffer so much?
It is estimated that about 18 per cent of all people suffer from some form of mental illness. And most of the rest of the people in their lives are subject to too much stress, especially between the ages of 18 and 55 years. Some people suffer for specific reasons, such as brain damage, genetic mutations, specific injuries, or chemical imbalances. However, in most cases, people suffer from various enhanced forms of what is noted in all other people. Some simply get more out of life because of particular social conditions or because they are more likely to exhibit some form of mental problem.
Sources of stress in the modern world
So why is there so much stress, anxiety and depression in today's world? Evolutionary psychologists say that part of the problem is the mismatch between the modern environment (with its cities, bureaucracy, inequality, and the media) and the environment of evolutionary adaptation (tribal life in the savannah). In order to explore this possibility, in this article you will find several factors in which the modern world is most different from the one in which the ancient ancestors of people lived. Here are five reasons why the modern world creates so much stress, anxiety and depression.
You interact with a wide variety of people
As you meet new people throughout your life, you are exposed to a wide variety of skills, knowledge, and values. Diversity is the source of much goodness in this world. Diverse groups of skilled people usually find much better solutions than homogeneous groups. However, modern diversity also strains the human brain very much, especially when it comes to the diversity of values. The man has a family. A person also has colleagues, friends, buddies. People also join church communities and hobby groups that meet every week or every month, in real life or on the Internet. Perhaps your family members are Democrats, your colleagues are Republicans, and your friends are generally communists. Your family members love country music, your coworkers love rap and pop, and your friends love rock music. Some of these differences are minor, and some may be a determining factor. In particular, it can generate a serious emotional burden leading to stress and depression.
You aim for higher standards
You watch television and everyone is so beautiful there. You are not so beautiful. How many people in a tribe of 150 look like Rosario Dawson? How old is Jamie Dornan? You watch TV and everyone is so rich. Entrepreneurs are always successful. Authors are always published. People's houses look much better than yours. You watch the Olympic Games and realize that you can neither run nor swim. And you understand that you would not show anything in synchronized diving. Only one hundredth of a percent of the world's population gets a chance to demonstrate their talents, their wealth and their beauty in front of the public. And those are the people you compare yourself to. This is an unattainable high standard. It's not surprising that you might want to be the prettiest member of a tribe, have the most resources, or be known for being the best at something. Sometimes you can set yourself a similar goal and achieve it. But in the modern world, we are not talking about a tribe of 150 people, but about the population of the Earth, which is more than seven billion. Wanting to be in the ranks of the elite is a recipe for disappointment.
You live more specialized
Aristotle read all the intellectual works that existed in Greece in his time, and then he himself created an impressive part of the new knowledge. Even up to the 17th century, if you were more or less intelligent and had enough free time, you could learn an impressive amount of academic knowledge that existed at that time. You could read all the "classics". You could study mathematics, philosophy, rhetoric and so on. From the 17th century to the 20th century, you could no longer learn all of human knowledge, no matter how smart you were. But if you worked hard, you could become an expert in any one field, such as mathematics, physics, philosophy or history. By 1950, you were lucky if you could become an expert in a sub-field, such as Chinese history. Now, if you're lucky, you can master the sub-sub-sub realm, such as the history of the first century of the Chin Dynasty, told from the point of view of the servants. Today you need to work very seriously to become a specialist in even the smallest areas. And the return from this work is the smallest in the history of mankind.
Markets have become more efficient
If you provide a product that no one else can provide, you can ask for a high price and earn impressive money. However, this will not last long. If your profit margin is really high, other people will notice the opportunity and open their own shop to compete with you. This will lead to lower prices. With sufficiently strong competition, prices can fall to a level where they barely cover the cost of producing a good. As consumers, people love it. As entrepreneurs, they hate it. The same dynamics is observed in the labor market. If you have a skill that virtually no one else has, you can charge a high price. However, if your salary is high enough, other people will notice and start learning the skills that will allow them to compete with you.
The innovation process accelerated
People live in amazing times, new discoveries are made every year in almost every scientific field. Every year new gadgets appear on the market. And existing technologies are constantly improving and improving. Everyone knows that computers speed up. Until recently, computer clock speeds have doubled roughly every 18 months since the invention of the first computer. Now your smartphone is much more powerful than the computers NASA used to carry out the Apollo project. There are reasons to believe that the rate of improvement and development has peaked and is beginning to slow down. However, people are constantly finding new ways, such as parallel computing, to keep accelerating development.
conclusions
These are the five main differences between the modern world and prehistoric life on the savannah. And these five differences can go a long way to explaining why there is so much stress and anxiety in today's world. Based on these data, it is possible to further explore how each of these factors affects a person's basic psychological needs. And thanks to this, you can even try to find a solution to some common modern problems.
