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The cost of stress is astronomical, and rising. In the United States alone it has been estimated that productivity losses in the last few years associated with stress-related physical and psychological diseases exceeded 100 billion dollars. In physical terms stress is implicated in virtually everything in the diagnostic manual, from cancer to warts. The psychological effects of stress vary from kicking the dog to committing suicide. Okay, it's a really important issue. But what is it?

Stress is the wear and tear on a person that comes from dealing with life. It can be expressed as a formula. Force + Resistance = Stress. The term Force refers to "any adaptive demand made on an individual," and the term Resistance is defined as "the tendency of the individual to resist change."

Applying the formula reveals that rigid individuals facing multiple adaptive demands experience the most stress.

It works like this: Attitudinal rigidity + changing environment = Big-time ulcer!

Stress is both beneficial and necessary within limits and is not, by itself, the problem. The limits, or zone, within which stress is beneficial I call

"The PEP (Peak Efficiency Performance) Zone.

The size of this zone varies from individual to individual. Stress occurring outside the zone is "distress' and this is the harmful stress. The objective of true stress management is to keep the stresses in your life within the zone. This prevents it from becoming "distress."

Dealing with the symptoms of stress is not stress management, preventing distress is stress management.

When stress is not managed effectively it leads to coping burnout. Coping burnout is characterized by;

1) Coping skill erosion. It takes less and less to get to you and you handle it worse.
2) Escalating vulnerability. You become more vulnerable to other stressors (e.g. like viruses). Job stress (psychological stressor) makes you vulnerable to the flu (physical stressor) that's going around.
3) Running out of gas. Running out of gas refers to the steady erosion, by stress, of the finite amount of stress coping energy each person inherits. This process is called aging, and the end result is death.

Distress prevention is the key to a successful stress management program. It begins with the development of the psychological "immune system, the ability to give and receive love. The second goal is to increase your SSQ. SSQ stands for, Stress Survival Quotient, and refers to your ability to withstand stressors.

Strengthening the SSQ is accomplished by attending to specific mental and physical health requirements. These are;

1) Strengthening the mind and body by ensuring that nutritional needs are met
2) Getting and keeping an ideal weight
3) Exercising properly and regularly
4) Eliminating tobacco products (and other types of smoking ;-|))
5) Moderating the use of alcohol
6) Getting enough sleep (each person varies in need)
7) Building self-esteem
8) Having a sense of meaning and purpose to your life.

Each one of these activities will increase your Stress Survival Quotient and each is explained in detail in From Uptight to All Right. Manor House Publishing. $12.95.

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Want to learn more about stress? Read Dr. Murray's best-selling book From Uptight To All Right. Or, would you rather listen to it on audiotape and receive some powerful self-hypnosis exercises to bring you down and lift you up?

© Copyright 1990. Jerome Murray, Ph.D. All rights reserved.

© Copyright 1997 Dr. Jerome Murray. All rights reserved

Last modified on Monday, January 27, 2003