Stress Management Education

There are 3 “stages” of stress

  1. Stressor: can be anything from an exam, misplacing keys, financial issues, relationship issues, etc.
  2. Perception: if you misplace your keys, do you start worrying that you’ll miss your class/bus? Are you able to look at the situation differently? Do you even care that you misplaced your keys?
  3. Body’s reaction: does your body become tenser? Do you get a headache? Do you become irritable?

Because individuals are unique, a stressor for one person may not be a stressor for another. The degree of stress a person feels depends on their interpretation of how challenging or unpleasant the event seems.

To have a comprehensive plan, it’s recommended there be 4 attributes (Greenberg, 1999):

  1. INDIVIDUALIZED: it’s been mentioned before… stress and stress management is different from person to person, what works for you at managing your stress may not work for your friend. Therefore, you have to find what will work for you.
  2. POSTIVE and REWARDING: how you manage your stress needs to be positive and rewarding to YOU, not your friend, advisor, partner, etc… YOU. If it’s not then it’s less likely you’ll get anything from it and it may lead to more stress.
  3. MULTIDIMENSIONAL: there are 3 stages of stress management… it’s recommended strategies are used for each stage (i.e. reduce stressors, change perception, and reduce the bodies reaction).
  4. FLEXIBLE: it’s recommended that strategies can be incorporated into your lifestyle and utilized just about anywhere.

Again, stress management is very individualized, therefore, it’s important to find what will work best for you.

So, how can you reduce your stressors? Change your perception? Reduce your body’s reaction? Check out the links below for more information.

Managing Stressors

Changing Perception

  • Attitude check
  • Humor/being able to laugh at yourself and not at the expense of others
  • Behavior type (A, B, etc.)
  • Increase self-esteem
  • Increase hardiness (commitment, control, and challenge)
  • Locus of control: perception of how much control you have on events in your life

Way's to Reduce Body's Reaction

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