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. 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.

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

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

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

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

16. The Yerkes-Dodson Law(a.k.a. the Inverted-U Hypothesis)

17. The Yerkes-Dodson Law(a.k.a. the Inverted-U Hypothesis)

18. The Yerkes-Dodson Law(a.k.a. the Inverted-U Hypothesis)

19. 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

23. Conditions Impacted by Invoking the Relaxation Response • Angina pectoris • Cardiac arrhythmias • Anxiety • Depression • Bronchial asthma • Herpes simplex • Diabetes • Hypertension • Infertility • Postoperative swelling • PMS • Rheumatoid arthritis • Cancer side effects • AIDS side effects • Insomnia • Duodenal ulcer • Pain (numerous types) • Skin allergies

24. 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

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

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

27. 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

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

29. 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

30. 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.

31. 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?

32. 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

33. 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.

34. 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.

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

36. Symptoms of Burnout • 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

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

38. 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

39. 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

40. 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

41. 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

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

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

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

45. Attention Control Principles • Attention has dimensions • Effective attention involves shifting it • Arousal influences attention and performance

46. Internal Broad-Internal Narrow-Internal Broad Narrow Broad-External Narrow External External

47. 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)

48. 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

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

50. 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