Real-life Stressful Situation Research Articles

A Group Self-Care Approach to Stress Management

A procedure is described for teaching patients the use of relaxation as a coping skill. The procedure, called Stress Management Training, combines Progressive Relaxation and Clinical Meditation into a standardized but flexible seven-session protocol. The technique has been used to treat a variety of stress-related medical and psychological problems. The training consists of three components. The first is giving the patient a cognitive understanding of stress and relaxation. The second, teaching the patient to relax by controlling the muscle tension and sympathetic nervous system activity. The third, teaching the patient to generalize the relaxation skill to real-life stress situations. Patients are also instructed in the relationship between stress, basic health practices, and physical health status.

Stress Management Training for the Elderly: A Psychoeducational Approach

A procedure is described for teaching elderly persons the use of relaxation as a coping skill. The procedure, called Stress Management Training, seeks to provide the client with: 1) a cognitive understanding of stress and relaxation, 2) the ability to relax by controlling muscle tension and sympathetic-nervous-system activity, and 3) the ability to extend the relaxation skill to real-life stress situations. A case report demonstrates the process, which is an educational model rather than a medical model. The role of the psychotherapist as an educator and the potential usefulness of the social learning theory as a basis for conceptualizing mental health problems are discussed.

Multiple family therapy: A treatment modality for child abuse cases

In the systems approach certain patterns of family interaction are seen as fitting with physical abuse to wards children in the family. If these interactions are blocked or changed using specific family therapy interventions, the risk of further abuse will be significantly reduced. Identifying typical patterns of interaction that fit with abuse is a useful first step in planning the management of physically abusing families. A full systemic formulation of the presenting problem will address numerous systems and sub-systems simultaneously, notably the family-professional system, the family within the extended family/friendship system, and the nuclear family. Interventions may have to be directed on a variety of these levels. The Marlborough Family Service has assessed and treated over 100 child-abusing families. A family day unit is used as the setting, and a multifamily group as the principle medium of treatment. Within the day unit real life stress situations are recreated around everyday issues, enabling families to find new and nonviolent solutions to the problems of daily life. In the cases seen, approximately one-third have resulted in a recommendation of permanent alternative family care for the children. In those families reunited, the re-injury rate has been found to be extremely low.

Anxiety and temporal perspective among normals in a stressful life situation.

The present study examines relationships between specific types of speech disruption denoting anxiety (the “non-ah” ratio; Mahl, 1959) and tense usage among normal Ss as they experience a real-life stress situation. Major findings are low positive correlations between anxiety and present tense ( r = .38, p < .05) and between anxiety and present plus future tense ( r = .43, p < .05). Since statistical controls (partial correlation) indicate that these relationships are independent of verbal productivity, it appears likely chat normal Ss respond to stress by emphasizing present time. It is tentatively suggested that this behavior may serve a coping or problem-solving function.