Management of Stress

Medical Techniques 

These focus around the use of medicines to reduce the body’s automatic response to stressors:

1. Benzodiazapines – group of drugs that directly affect the stress reactions in the central nervous system. They reduce the activity of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which causes an inhibitory effect on the brain and increases muscle relaxation.
2. Beta-blockers – group of drugs that reduce the anxiety and blood pressure linked to stress by acting on the peripheral nervous system, which blocks activity from ephinephrine and norepinephrine.

Strengths:

• Short-term use – they are good to use as a temporary measure for dealing with stress and do not require the patient to open up about their feelings, which could cause more stress.
• Useful – they provide immediate relief, which is important when trying to reduce stress during triggering situations.

Weaknesses:

• Not sustainable as a long-term measure – medicines are drugs and will provoke psychological dependency if taken continuously, meaning that the patient will always need more to provide the same effect. This might lead to overdose and death. 
• Side effects – all medicines have side effects, which patients may not be able to live with forever. For example, many of these drugs may lead to depression, which needs a treatment itself; therefore, patients may find themselves taking more medicines for the side effects of the original one.

Psychological measures 

Biofeedback – technique that attempts to get people to take control of their own physiological state. Usually patients are attached to machines that control things like their heart rate, blood pressure and muscle tension – the idea is that patients will take voluntary control of their physiology using rewards. Thus, they will concentrate on reducing the value of the readings of the machines through relaxation techniques, meditation and redefinition.

BUDZYNSKI ET AL (1973) wanted to see whether biofeedback is an effective method of reducing tension headaches and found that participants which underwent biofeedback combined with relaxation techniques had less headaches, lower tension and decreased usage of drugs.

For more detailed information – Budzynski et al (1973)

Imagery – techniques used to distract people from thinking about any stressors they have and they may be taught relaxation techniques to help.

BRIDGE ET AL (1988) wanted to see whether stress could be alleviated in patients being treated for early breast cancer. 139 women with stage I or II cancer after their first session radiotherapy were assigned to one of the three groups:

1. Control group – were encouraged to talk about themselves.
2. Relaxation group – were taught to concentrate on the individual muscle groups through tape recordings, that they were supposed to practice 15 minutes per day.
3. Relaxation with imagery group – were taught to imagine a peaceful scene to enhance relaxation through tape recordings, that they were supposed to practice 15 minutes per day.

The experimental groups were more relaxed and had less mood disturbances. Also, women over 55 benefited the most from the technique. 

Strengths:

• Control group – since there was a control group, the researchers could check the reliability of the results and be sure that the beneficial effects on group 2 and 3 occurred because of the relaxation techniques and imagery.
• Ecological validity – the study was carried out with real breast cancer patients, who were experiencing real stress due to their condition. This makes the research more reliable as the same results are likely to be found if it was to be repeated, and more realistic. 

Weaknesses:

• Ethics – it could be said that it might be unethical to make a ill person believe that the techniques are going to help them if there is no actual proof. Also, the control group was given false hope as the purpose of the study was not to help them.
• Demand characteristics – since the participants knew they were part of a study, this could have made them answer questions in a certain way to please the experimenters. Thus, the findings were altered.

Preventing stress

Stress Inoculation therapy – designed by Meichenbaum, this therapy has the function to prevent stress through 3 stages:

1. Conceptualization stage – when a relationship is built between the trainer and clients and these are educated about the nature and impact stress has on their lives (they are encouraged to see stressors as problems to be resolved.) Also, the patients might be introduced to some coping strategies.
2. Skill acquisition and rehearsal phase – when mechanisms in stage 1 are put to practice and the patients are encouraged to use these in the real world.
3. Application and follow-through phase – when there are opportunities for the client to apply the coping skills to increasing levels of stressors. This helps to consolidate the skills learned and a follow-up booster session is given to ensure that the process is working.  

For more detailed information – Meichenbaum (1996)