Preventing and managing job related stress.

Abstract

he problem of stress in the work lives of psychologists does not lend itself to easy remedies. Nevertheless, research and practice during the last decade have provided many promising strategies for the prevention and alleviation of stress. In fact, so rich are the possibilities that a chapter such as this one can only describe them in the most general way. But enough can be said to help those who are concerned about distressed psychologists and other professionals.The stress syndrome has been described in detail in chapter 4 of this volume. In this chapter, we define stress as a feeling of tension, often accompanied by negative emotional or physiological symptoms (e.g., anger, anxiety, depression; elevated heart rate and blood serum cholesterol levels).Strategies for stress management can be conceptualized in many different ways. First, they can be directed to the individual or the situational factors that contribute to stress. Second, there are preventive interventions as well as clinical/remedial ones. Third, there are interventions that reduce the source of stress (either situational or individual) and those that support the coping process. Finally, a distinction has been made between stress managemen,t techniques that involve active problem-solving and those that are palliative These distinctions tend to overlap, yet each contributes a different and potentially useful perspective. For instance, interventions designed to reduce or eliminate environmental (situational) sources of stress usually can be considered preventive. However, preventive interventions can also focus on individual contributors to stress.Writers on stress management tend to take strong positions on what strategies are best. For instance, some argue that individual strategies are preferable because little can be done about situational sources of stress (e.g., Edelwich & Brodsb, 1980). Others argue that individual strategies are limited in effectiveness and involve blaming the victim; therefore, we should concentrate on group and organizational strategies (e.g., Shinn & Mrarch, 1983). As shall be seen, work in the field has been biased toward individual-level interventions: many more published studies have used these strategies than have used organizational ones. Nevertheless, organizational strategies have been T

Therapist Stress, Career Sustaining Behavior, Coping, and the Working Alliance

“…Numerous studies iden tify the importance of supervision and how it may reduce stress, promote self-awareness. and improve well functioning (Coster & Schwebel, 1997;Chemiss & Dantzig, 1986;Sherman & Thelen, 1998). The current findings suggest that therapists who feel super vision or case consultation is less available to them are more likely to struggle with establishing a positive working alliance.…”

“…Eleven out of the 12 inter viewed felt supervision was important in helping them sustain high levels of work com mitment and helped to reinforce the need for self-care. Chemiss and Dantzig (1986) theorized about the importance of supervision, regardless of how long psychologists have been in practice. They discussed the miscon ceptions many have about supervision being of minimal importance after many years of training and experience.…”

“…Medeiros and Prochaska (1988) found that only 35.6% of their sample received supervision for their clinical work. Numerous studies have noted that supervision and peer support are important in maintaining well-being in practice and provide important opportunities for case discussion and problem-solving and may play an important role in providing good care to clients (Case & McMinn, 2001;Brady et al, 1995a;Coster & Schwebel, 1997;Chemiss & Dantzig, 1986;Kramen-Kahn & Hansen, 1998). Coster and Schwebel found that supervision was ranked eleventh out of 29 variables that contributed to well functioning for psychologists.…”

Burnout: An Overview of 25 Years of Research and Theorizing

“…Mutual aid groups are advocated for self-help (Spicuzza & De Voe, 1982). Preferably these groups should be initiated by the professionals themselves, rather than by their management (Cherniss & Dantzig, 1986). Specialized counselling and psychotherapy programmes have been developed for burnt-out patients that are not only directed towards symptom reduction but also towards work resumption and rehabilitation (Schaufeli & Enzmann, 1998, pp.…”