Unit 6: Stress & Anger Management

1. Unit 6: Stress & Anger Management • Concepts of Stress • Situational Factors Affecting Stress • Personal Factors Affecting Stress • Mediational Model of Stress • Implications for Stress Interventions • Relaxation as a Multidimensional Response • Somatic Relaxation • Cognitive Relaxation

2. Unit 6: Stress & Anger Management • Thought and Emotion • Cognitive Distortions • A-B-C Theory of Emotion • Cognitive Restructuring • Self-Instructional Training • Integrated Coping Response • Rehearsal of Coping Responses • Understanding Burnout • Coping with Burnout

3. Definitions of Stress • Stress as a Stimulus (stressors) • Stress as a Response (feeling stressed) • Stress as a Person-Situation Transaction

4. A Transactional Definition of Stress Stress is a particular relationship or transaction between a person and the environment that is appraised by the person as taxing or exceeding his/her resources and/or endangering his/her well being, (Lazarus and Folkman)

5. Three Types of Appraisals • Primary • What is the nature of the stressor? • Secondary • What kinds of resources do I posses to cope with this stressor? • Reappraisal • Reassessment of situational given additional information and/or secondary appraisal

6. Situational Factors Affecting Stress • Predictability • Event Uncertainty • Ambiguity • Novelty • Imminence • Controllability

7. Personal Factors Affecting Stress • Motives, Goals, & Values • Beliefs • Personal Control Beliefs • Existential Beliefs • Personality Factors: Hardiness • Coping Skills

8. The Three Cs of Hardiness • Challenge • Commitment • Control

9. Stages of Coping • Anticipatory • Impact • Post Impact

10. Types of Coping • Problem-Focused Coping • Emotion-Focused Coping • Seeking Social Support

11. Possible Coping Resources • Physical Resources • Beliefs • Problem -Solving Skills • Social Support • Social Skills • Material Resources

12. Characteristics of Effective Coping • People with effective coping skills have • complex repertoires (good variety) that are • flexibly applied and • readily generalizable to different situations.

13. Coping Defined Coping is a process of constantly changing cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage specific internal or external demands that are appraised as taxing or exceeding a person’s resources.

14. Benson’s Relaxation Response • Repetition of a word, phrase, mantra, prayer, or muscular activity • Passive disregard towards thoughts that will arise • Helpful to do in a quiet place and in a comfortable position

15. Conditions Impacted by Invoking the Relaxation Response • Angina pectoris (symptom of heart diseas)

16. Other Useful Relaxation Techniques • Smile when you feel tense • Have fun and enjoy pressure-filled and adverse situations • Intentionally set up stressful situations • Slow down and take your time • Stay focused on the present • Create and stick to a plan

17. Cognitive Distortions • All-or-Nothing Thinking • Overgeneralization • Mental Filter • Disqualifying the Positive • Jumping to Conclusions • Mind Reading • Fortune Teller Error

18. Cognitive Distortions (Continued) • Magnification & Minimization • Emotional Reasoning • Should Statements • Labeling & Mislabeling • Personalization • Depressogenic Attribution Pattern • Negative Cognitive Triad

19. The A-B-Cs (or A-C-Bs) of Emotion • A – Activating Event • C – Emotional Consequences • Emotional reaction, presumably caused by irrational thinking • B – Beliefs • Usually irrational if dealing with negative emotions

20. Ellis’ Core Irrational Belief • It is awful, terrible, and catastrophic when things are not the way that I demand that they be.

21. Other Common Irrational Thoughts • It’s a dire necessity for an adult to be loved by everyone for everything he or she does. • One should be thoroughly competent, successful, and achieving in all possible respects. • Certain people are wicked and villainous when they do not behave as I demand they should, and for this, they should be punished. • If something is threatening, I should be terribly upset about it. • Musts and Shoulds

22. Possible Stress Reducing Thoughts • I may not like this situation, but I can certainly stand it. • Unfortunately, people don’t always behave the way I want them to. That’s the way it goes - no use getting upset. • I don’t have to be perfect. I can make mistakes too. I don’t have to please everybody. • Life is too short to let things like this make me miserable.

23. Analyzing Thoughts and Feelings(see Smith pages 68-69) • Activating Event • What happened? Describe the event. • Emotional Consequences • How did you feel when the event occurred? • What was your emotional response? • Beliefs • What were you thinking? What were you telling yourself? Was any of this irrational? • Dispute • Counter what you told yourself. What is a more productive thing to think?

24. Self-Instructional Training: Anticipatory Stage • This will be frustrating. Just plan on how you can keep your cool and deal with it without blowing up. • No negative self-statements. Just think and plan rationally

25. Self-Instructional Training: Impact Stage • One step at a time. You can handle this. Just relax and think clearly. • Keep your cool. No need to loose your tempter. Relax.

26. Self-Instructional Training: Post-Impact Stage • Those damn ideas. They’re the problem. When you control them, you control your anger. • Go back over what you did. What worked and what can be done better next time? • Way to go! It’s getting better every time. You’re controlling the anger instead of it controlling you.

27. Burnout Defined • The psychological, emotional, and sometimes physical withdrawal from an activity in response to excessive stress or dissatisfaction.

28. Low motivation or energy Concentration problems Lack of caring Disturbed sleep Physical and/or mental exhaustion Lowered self-esteem Negative affect Mood changes/swings Substance abuse Changes in values Emotional isolation Increased Anxiety Impaired performance Symptoms of Burnout

29. Situational Factors Contributing to Burnout • High or conflicting demands • Low social support • Low autonomy • Low rewards • Low demands

30. Personal Factors Contributing to Burnout • Extreme dedication to work or profession • High trait anxiety • Perfectionistic or unrealistic goals • Type A personality • Too flexible or rigid in coping skills • Non-discriminating locus of control • Feeling isolated and lonely

31. Coping with Burnout: The Process • Awareness of the Problem • Taking Responsibility for Changing the situation and/or Yourself • Discriminating the Changeable from the Unchangeable • Developing New Strategies and Coping Skills

32. Coping With Burnout: Specific Recommendations • Examining Coping Patterns • Goal-Setting and Clarifying Priorities • Acknowledging Vulnerabilities • Compartmentalizing Work and Non-work • Decompression Time/Time Off • Maintaining Physical Fitness • Building Social Support

33. Coping With Burnout: Specific Recommendations • Challenging/Changing Maladaptive Attitudes and Beliefs • Using Burnout to Promote Personal Growth • Learn Mental Coping Skills • Choose to Have Fun

34. Unit 7:Attention Control • Introduction • Effective Attention • Attention Control Principles • Things that Disrupt Attention • Suggestions for Improving Attention • Attention & Pain Tolerance

35. Effective Attention • Voluntary focus on relevant cues • Maintaining focus over time • Shifting the focus of attention when necessary • Screening out irrelevant stimuli

36. Effective Attention: Information Processing • Attending to relevant cues • Integrating cues within memory • Responding appropriately

37. Choking Defined • Because of excessive arousal, an individual’s performance progressively deteriorates and the the person can’t regain control of it • High arousal • Attention shifts towards the person’s dominant attentional style • Attention goes internal and narrow (towards negative thoughts and feelings)

38. Things that Disrupt Attention:Internal Distracters • Thoughts about the past • Thoughts about the future • Pressure and choking under pressure • Over-Analyzing (Paralysis through analysis) • Fatigue • Lack of motivation

39. Things that Disrupt Attention:External Distracters • Visual distracters • Auditory distracters • Gamesmanship

40. Suggestions for Improving Attention • Use simulations • Use cue or trigger words • Employ non-judgmental thinking • Establish routines • Develop performance plans • Practice eye control • Use self-monitoring

41. Suggestions for Improving Attention (Continued) • Over-learn behaviors • Turn failure into success (in your mind) • Practice shifting attention • Park distracting thoughts • Increasing focusing and refocusing skills • Use technology (EEG, biofeedback, etc…) • Use mental skills (goals, imagery, etc…)

42. Pain Control Strategies • Dissociative Strategies • Direct attention away from painful stimuli • Examples: counting backwards by 17s, imagining you are somewhere else, watching an engaging movie • Associative Strategies • Direct attention towards painful stimuli, but in a detached, non-emotional way

43. Internal Broad-Internal Narrow-Internal Broad Narrow Broad-External Narrow External External

44. Real listening is based on the intention to… • Understand someone. • Enjoy someone. • Learn something. • Give help, solace, or support.

45. Comparing Mind Reading Rehearsing Filtering Judging Daydreaming Identifying Advising Sparring Being Right Derailing Placating Twelve Blocks to Listening

46. Four Steps to Effective Listening • Active Listening • Paraphrasing • Clarifying • Feedback (immediate, honest, supportive, clear, & concise) • Listening with Empathy • Listening with Openness • Listening with Awareness

47. Six Rules for Effective Listening • Maintain good eye contact • Lean slightly forward • Reinforce the speaker by nodding and paraphrasing • Clarify by asking questions • Actively move away from distractions • Be committed to understanding

48. Pseudo-Listening Intentions • To listen in order to buy time to think of what to say • To listen for specific pieces of information, ignoring the rest • To listen because we think we “should” (half-listening)

49. Unit 8: Communication • Communication as a Life Skill • The Communication Process • Listening • Expressing • Nonverbal Communication

50. Kinds of Expression • Observations (Facts) • Thoughts (Conclusions drawn from the facts) • Feelings (Emotions) • Needs (What would help or please you?)