Stress Management

Planned Coping Anticipating situations that might cause you stress and implementing a concrete plan for preventing or reducing that stress

Energy Transference

Laughter causes a release of endorphins in the body Have a Good Laugh Laughter causes a release of endorphins in the body

Develop supportive relationships

Mental Rehearsal Mentally rehearsing a stressful scene that arouses a physiological response that is followed by your successfully controlling the response

Defense Mechanisms

Defined Strategies used to deal with strong or stressful emotions and situations.

Pros and Cons PROS CONS Help us survive Protect us Good coping tools Act as a filter Distort and deny reality Can deceive us Keep us from coping, changing, and growing Can keep others away

Managing Anger Constructively Re-channel your anger in a positive, productive way. Get away by yourself to deal with your emotions. (You are usually feeling sadness or hurt; anger is a secondary emotion) Pick up the phone, talk it out Write down exactly what you are feeling and why. Punch a pillow or count to ten. Poor Anger Management

Dealing with Guilt Don’t do something you know is wrong in the first place. Many let guilt paralyze them emotionally and physically. Admit the problem Make amends

Common Defense Mechanisms Repression: Involuntary, unconscious pushing of unpleasant feelings below the surface and out of conscious thought. A child who is abused by a parent later has no recollection of the events, but has trouble forming relationships. Compensation: Wanting to cover up weaknesses and mistakes by making up for them through gift-giving, hard work, or other extreme efforts People who feel inferior because they are short may train hard to be very strong.

Projection: Being unaware of attributing one’s own feelings or faults to another person or group even when these attributes do not apply I do not like another person so much, that it seems only rational to me that person does not like me. An unfaithful husband suspects his wife of infidelity. -Idealization: Seeing someone else as perfect or more ideal, or worthy, than everyone else. A teenager in awe of a rock star is enamored with their idol, imagining them to have a perfect life, to be kind and thoughtful, and so on. They ignore the star's grosser habits and rough background.

Avoidance: Changing the subject, not responding, refusing to take responsibility. Peter is bad at math so he avoids doing his math homework

-Rationalization: Making excuses to try to explain a situation or behavior rather than directly taking responsibility for it.

-Regression: Reverting, or turning back, to behaviors more characteristic of an earlier stage of development rather than dealing with the conflict in a more mature manner

-Denial: Unconscious, involuntary lack of acknowledgment of something in one’s environment that is obvious to other.

The boss gets angry and shouts at me. I go home and shout at my wife The boss gets angry and shouts at me. I go home and shout at my wife. She then shouts at our son. With nobody left to displace anger onto, he goes and kicks the dog.