Self Concept And Stress example essay topic

EFFECTIVELY REDUCING STRESS TIME MANAGEMENT In order to reduce stress using the method of time management we must first have an understanding of the phrase time management. According to Mind Tools an article published on the Internet, "Time Management" is a set of related practical skills that help you to use your time in the most effective and productive way possible (1995). Time management helps you to reduce work stress by being more in control of your time and by being more productive. This ensures that you have time to relax outside work.

According to Carnegie Mellon an article published on the Internet, there are two main types of time wasters self -generated and environmental. Self-generated are those that come about as a result of your thoughts, feelings and actions, such as being disorganized, being unable to say "no" to tempting distractions, succumbing to the urge to procrastinate or feeling burned-out or apathetic. An then there are those who are environmental time wasters they are imposed upon you by the environment, such as unexpected visitors, phone calls, "no-show" appointments and unproductive meetings (Mellon, 2003). There are many different ways to manage time, planning is the first. When planning think of your planning as two types: long- and short-term.

Long-term planning takes into account goals spanning from one to five years in the future, Short term plans are much more immediate and cover events that will take place in the months, weeks or days ahead. This type of planning can be accomplished by maintaining a "to do" list. Itemizing all the tasks needed to attain the goals of your short-term plans, and a master list specifying what needs to be done for your long-term ones. Second, you should prioritize by determining which tasks on your lists are most pressing and most important. The third method is scheduling. Use a calendar to keep track of your activities.

Set realistic goals and focus on what you actually will accomplish as opposed to what you think you should be accomplishing. Always leave room for the unexpected. Fourth, divide and conquer A task will often seem overwhelming because it demands a great commitment of time and energy (Mellon, 2003). You can calculate how much time will be needed for the entire task by estimating the time needed for each part. Make your goals SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Reachable and Timely (Mellon, 2003). Break down your tasks into doable activities and identify obstacle in achieving each of them.

Lastly, keep a time log this will help in planning projects so that they are done properly, with adequate resources and use the time you have more effectively. It will also create more time, manage and avoid distractions, this will increase your productivity and personal effectiveness the rewards of efficient time management are great. Utilization of proper time management can lead to a lifetime of relaxation, less anxiety, and ultimately a life of less stress. BIBLIOGRAPHIES 1. Mind Tools (2003, February) An internet article on Time Management, (c) Mind Tools, 1995-2003 web 2. Carnegie Mellon (2003, October) webmaster@ web (c) 2003 Carnegie Mellon Libraries. web B. ANGER MANAGEMENT We all know what anger is, and we " ve all felt it: whether as a fleeting annoyance or as full-fledged rage.

Anger is a completely normal, usually healthy, human emotion. By definition Anger is "an emotional state that varies in intensity from mild irritation to intense fury and rage", according to Charles Spielberger, Ph. D., and a psychologist who specializes in the study of anger. The problem comes when anger gets out of control and turns destructive; it can lead to problems. Problems at work, in your personal relationships, and in the overall quality of your life. And it can make you feel as though you " re at the mercy of an unpredictable and powerful emotion. Like other emotions, it is accompanied by physiological and biological changes, when you get angry, your heart rate and blood pressure go up, as do the levels of your energy hormones, adrenaline, and noradrenaline.

Anger can be caused by both external and internal events. You could be angry with a specific person (Such as a coworker or supervisor) or event (a traffic jam, a canceled flight), or your anger could be caused by worrying or brooding about your personal problems. Memories of traumatic or enraging events can also trigger angry feelings. Regardless of your reasoning for being angry the instinctive, natural way to express anger is to respond aggressively. Anger is a natural, adaptive response to threats; it inspires powerful, often aggressive, feelings and behaviors, which allow us to fight and to defend ourselves when we are attacked. A certain amount of anger, therefore, is necessary to our survival.

People use a variety of both conscious and unconscious processes to deal with their angry feelings. The three main approaches are expressing, suppressing, and calming. Expressing your angry feelings in an assertive-not aggressive-manner is the healthiest way to express anger. To do this, you have to learn how to make clear what your needs are, and how to get them met, without hurting others. Being assertive means being respectful of yourself and others. Anger can be suppressed, and then converted or redirected.

This happens when you hold in your anger, stop thinking about it, and focus on something positive. The aim is to inhibit or suppress your anger and convert it into more constructive behavior. The danger in this type of response is that if it isn't allowed outward expression, your anger can turn inward-on yourself. Anger turned inward may cause hypertension, high blood pressure, or depression. The goal of anger management is to reduce both your emotional feelings and the physiological arousal that anger causes. You can't get rid of, or avoid, the things or the people that enrage you, nor can you change them, but you can learn to control your reactions.

According to Jerry Deffenbacher, Ph. D., a psychologist who specializes in anger management, some people really are more "hotheaded" than others are; they get angry more easily and more intensely than the average person does. People who are easily angered generally have what some psychologists call a low tolerance for frustration, meaning simply that they feel that they should not have to be subjected to frustration, inconvenience, or annoyance. Stress and anger often go hand-in-hand, and unresolved feelings of anger can be tremendous sources of stress in all aspects of life. Here are links to Web resources on anger management, identifying sources of anger, measuring your anger level, and strategies to get anger under control. Anger and / or stress managing are very popular treatment techniques. But managing / controlling such feelings of stress and rage usually / often fail to RESOLVE such stress and rage problems permanently.

Frequently, the underlying unresolved stress and rage continue and so therefore the next difficulty with hate or stress will erupt as surely as the sun rises every morn. Furthermore, while it is generally agreed that holding anger in causes stress and physical illness, recent research shows that people who express anger often actually experience more physical symptoms and illness than those who hold their anger in. BIBLIOGRAPHIES 1. Dr. Charles D. Spielberger is a Distinguished University Research Professor of Psychology and Director of the Center for Research in Behavioral Medicine and Health Psychology, 1972 2.

A Cognitive-Behavior Protocol for the Treatment of Anger by Jerry Deffenbacher Ph. D. and Matthew McKay Ph. D.C. SELF-ESTEEM Stress is a major cause of anxiety, self-doubt and consequent loss of self-esteem. The more stress we have, the less we feel able to cope and the lower our self-image and self-esteem become. It has been proven that people with healthy self-esteem experience less stress, anxiety and depression. In reviewing the literature it was found that several studies have been done to correlate self-esteem and stress. Studies have suggested that there is a negative relationship between self-esteem and stress. It was also found that self-esteem appears to moderate the effects of stress on psychological functioning.

Individuals with low self-esteem exhibit more distress from negative events than those with high self-esteem. High self-esteem may protect the individual from distress by allowing the individual to feel less vulnerable and be more able to bounce back from stressful situations. High self-esteem may also result in more active and effective coping and in enhanced motivation in response to stress (Abel, 1996). In an article by Kreger (1995), it was hypothesized, after reviewing some studies, that scores on self-esteem may act like attribution al style in predicting the effects of stress and that perceived stress may be more related to self-esteem than to actual stressfulness of a situation. After conducting a study on this hypothesis, it was found to be supported by the data, that stress inversely correlated with self-esteem. (Kreger, 1995).

According to another study, researchers found that there is a strong relationship between how someone copes with stress and self-esteem. It was also found in the same article in another study, that the article made reference to, that people with low self-esteem are more likely to view their behavior as being dependent on the situation while people with high self-esteem have a greater capacity to engage in a wide range of coping behaviors (Smith, Zhan, Huntington, Washington, 1992). In another article a study was done comparing the relationship between coping styles, self-concept, and stress. The coping styles researched in this study were optimism versus defensive-pessimism. These coping strategies have been thought to protect self-esteem from threatening situations. The purpose of their study (1) was to see if using different cognitive coping strategies experience different levels of perceived stress, (2) and also to see what components of the self might these coping strategies be striving to defend or maintain (Morrison, 1991).

Their study suggests instead of assuming that coping styles are protection for self-esteem, they are just as likely to protect weak facets of the self. Researchers also found that defensive-pessimists and those without consistent coping strategies show themselves to be more stressed than optimists. Female optimists are more satisfied with their skills for handling stress than are defensive-pessimists and those without consistent coping strategies. Optimists coping strategies coincide with less stress. Males, with the exception of the optimists feeling less stressed than those without consistent coping strategies, coping style differences do not reflect differences in satisfaction (Morrison, 1991). In reviewing another article investigating the relationships among self-esteem enhancing and self-esteem threatening relationships, life stress, perceived social support, and psychological symptoms through the use of new measures of esteem enhancing and esteem threatening relationships.

It was hypothesized that esteem enhancement would relate positively to global self-esteem and negatively to psychological symptoms and esteem threat would have the opposite relations consistent with the threat to self-esteem model. It was also hypothesized that the esteem enhancement and threat measures would account for significant variance in self-esteem and psychological symptoms beyond demographic, life stress, and social support measures. Researchers hypothesized that these measures would be uncorrelated with each other because other measures of positive and negative social ties are largely uncorrelated. They found that esteem threat was associated with psychological symptoms independent of stress, social support, and demographic variables. Both esteem enhancement and esteem threat made independent contributions to predicting global self-esteem after controlling for initial levels of global self-esteem (Short, Sandler, Roosa, 1996).

Overall, according to most of the literature researched, self-esteem has little to do with how people deal with or perceive the levels of stress in their lives. It has more to do with other factors such as coping styles and self-concept. However, in conclusion people who have high self-esteem perceive themselves to have lower levels of stress than those with low self-esteem and people who have low self-esteem perceive themselves to have high levels of stress than those with high self-esteem. 1.

Trying to avoid medication. Many over-the-counter drugs for excessive stress have side effects with adverse reactions. Their chemical reactions may cause negative changes in body chemistry resulting in premature aging and stress at the cellular level. Also, drugs may be habit forming creating more stress than they take away. Use these medications only when you do not have access to natural products, vitamins or a doctor's prescription. And then only following your doctor's advice and only when you really require them.

If you take natural products that help to prevent or reduce excessive stress and / or its symptoms, it is unlikely that you will develop out-of-control distress. Relieve the build-up of pressure by doing something physically active. Many enjoy walking or playing a favorite sport. Others find gardening or dancing does it for them. These activities help to release the uptight feeling from mental stress. The result is that both your mind and body relax.

Mind and body working together result in a synergistic response. BIBLIOGRAPHIES 1. Abel, M.H. (1996). Self-esteem: Moderator of mediator between perceived stress and expectancy of success. Psychological Reports, 79,635-641.2. Kreger, D.W. (1995).

Self-esteem, stress, and depression among graduate students. Psychological Reports, 76,345-346.3. Morrison, C.R. (1991). Academic coping styles, self-concept, and stress.

1-24.4. Short, J.L. & Sandler, I.N. & Roosa, M.W. (1996). Adolescents' perceptions of social support: The role of esteem enhancing and esteem threatening relationships. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 15,397-416.5.

Smith, M.C. (1992). Is clarity of self-concept related to preferred coping styles? 1-24. Main point IV 1. YOGA Using Yoga for Stress Relief demonstrates the appropriate positions (as anas), breathing exercises, and meditations for relief and prevention of stress.

The techniques are suited for the beginner and for the more experienced practitioners of yoga. Yoga not only strengthens and sculpts the body, but it has also been shown to benefit internal organs like the heart, kidneys, and lungs and systems like digestion, circulation, and metabolism. Practitioners are reporting that whether they start doing yoga to look better or to feel better, they are seeing both results. Another aspect of yoga that puts it a cut above other forms of exercise-and may explain why it has such staying power-is the effect it can have on the mind. Studies show that yoga can greatly reduce levels of stress and anxiety, especially if you meditate afterward. In fact, many practitioners claim to feel "blessed out" after an invigorating yoga session.

When stress is present over a long period, it can lead to more serious conditions, such as high blood pressure. It's a risk factor for heart disease and can lead to depression and alcohol and drug abuse. Research shows that simple stress-reducing techniques, if performed daily, can prevent the longer-term debilitating effects of unmanaged stress". 2. TAI CHI Tai chi was developed in China in the 1300's as a martial art, not unlike karate and judo, which were used for self-defense. It evolved into a technique for promoting health, and meditation with people using it primarily for its health benefits.

A person studies Tai chi, takes classes, and then performs it on one's own. It can be used for the general harmonizing and balancing of the body and is wonderful for stress management and many illnesses. Tai chi translated means, "supreme ultimate". This very interesting exercise, while never boring, is challenging. It challenges your preconceived way of being in relationship to gravity, your physical self, your mind, and with other people.

Tai Chi is a way to learn how to relax and concentrate intensely at the same time while actually using your body. There are many people who are turned off to the idea of meditation, or are just too wired to try to meditate. Those people tend to want a physical basis for the relaxation practice. It can be focused around a specific symptom, so it could be someone who has a headache problem or an acid reflux problem for example or one of the many other problems that are related to a high level of stress.

In conclusion whether you decide on Yoga or Tai Chi to include in your busy schedule. Both of them have great rewards. Either one of these methods can make a big difference for healthy, but very busy people. Benefits include stress reduction, better focus and concentration, increased flexibility, improved strength, enhanced immune system, better balance, improved memory, improved circulation, and increased coordination.

Need I say more!