KAPLAN UNIVERSITY

HW410 Stress: Critical Issues in

Management and Prevention

Stress
Management and
Prevention
1

Program Resource
Guide

KA P L A N U N I V E R S I T Y

Stress Management and Prevention

Program Resource Guide

By
Ashley Parisian
Kaplan University
HW410: Stress: Critical Issues in Management and Prevention
April 23rd, 2014

Table of Contents
UNIT

THE

NATU RE

OF

STRESS

The Definition of Stress

Types of Stress
The Stress Response
Resources: Exercise 1.7 College Students Daily Stressors Survey;
Exercise 1.1 Are you stressed?
Tools: 1.4 A Goodnights Sleep, 1.5 Personal Stress Inventory: Top
Ten Stressors
UNIT

THE

BO DY

AS

BATTL EF IEL D

Stress and Disease Connection

Theoretical Model
The Chakra System
Resources: Exercise 2.2 Immediate, Intermediate, and Prolonged
Stress Effects; Exercise 3.1 Physical Symptoms Questionnaire
Tools: 3.3 My Health Profile, 2.1 Stress Physiology Review
UNIT

F EAST

OR

FAM IN INE

Defense Mechanism (Freud)

Healthy Emotions
The Death of Unmet Expectations
Resources: 5.1 Anger Recognition Checklist, 5.4 The Fight
Response, 5.7 Fear This
Tools: 4.1 The Psychology of Your Stress
UNIT

ONE

PL ANET

UNDER

STRESS

Stress-Prone and Resistant Personalities

Spiritual Hunger
Self Esteem- The Bottom Line Defense
Resources: Exercise 7.5 Your Personal Value System: Exercise 7.6
The Meaningful Purpose of Life, Exercise 7.8 Distractions of the
Human Path
Tools: 6.2 Stress Prone Personality Survey
UNIT

UNDER

STRESS:

WHAT

NOW?

Information to Remember
Resources: Exercises
Tools: Journal Writing
UNIT

AGEL ESS

WISDOM

OF

M EDITATIO N

Information to Remember
Resources: Exercises
Tools: Journal Writing
UNIT

SIGHT,

SOUN D,

AND

BO DY

WOR K

Information to Remember
Resources: Exercises
Tools: Journal Writing
UNIT

THE

WEL L NESS

M ANDAL A

Information to Remember
Resources: Exercises
Tools: Journal Writing
UNIT 9 APPLYING STRESS: CRITICAL M ANAGEM ENT
PREVEN TIO N TO YOUR PROF ESSI ONAL L IF E

AND

Information to Remember
Resources: Exercises
Tools: Journal Writing
UNIT 1 0 APPLYING STRESS: CRITICAL M ANAGEM ENT
PREVEN TIO N TO YOUR PROF ESSI ONAL L IF E

Information to Remember
Resources: Exercises
Tools: Journal Writing
ADDITI ONAL

INF ORM ATIO N

(End of the Guide)

AND

(This page intentionally left blank)

1
Unit

Unit 1: The Nature of Stress

Information to Remember:

The Definitions of Stress: In order to understand how to manage stress you

must first know what stress is. Stress is the experience of a perceived threat,
real or imagined, to ones mental, physical or spiritual well being resulting in a
series of physical response and adaption.

Types of Stress: There are three types of stress, eustress, neustress, distress.
Love can be used as an example of eustress. Neustress is considered neutral,
it is neither good nor bad and distress is a negative, real or imagined
interpretation of an event.

The Stress Response: In this unit I found the stress response the most
interesting. The stress response was also known as flight-or-fight. Flight-or
Fight is the instinctive physiological responses preparing the body, when
confronted with a threat, to either fight or flee; an evolutionary survival
dynamic.

Resources: Exercises:

Exercise 1.7 College Students Daily Stressors Survey: I think that is very
important for college students to see how certain activities add stress to their
lives.

Exercise 1.1 Are you Stressed?: This exercise is a great tool to use to get sort
of a baseline for what your stressors are.

Tools: Journal Writing:

2
Unit

1.4 A Goodnights Sleep: This entry allowed me to see how getting a

goodnight sleep related to my mood and also my stress levels. I think it is
important for people to understand how and why sleep is so important.

1.5 Personal Stress Inventory: Top Ten Stressors; I feel that everyone should
use this tool to figure out what stressors play the biggest role in their lives. I
found it very beneficial in my stress reduction.

Unit 2: The Body as Battlefield

Information to Remember:

Stress and Disease Connection: The Association between stress and disease is
considered extremely high. Ultimately disease and illness show up in the body
and are related to the nervous system and the immune system.

Theoretical Models: These models consist of the Borsneko Model, The Lipton
Model, The Gerber Model. Once this model is in place, the possibility of
preventing and intercepting several disease processes will certainly take
precedence over the current medical practice of relieving symptoms and fixing
and replacing broken parts.

The Chakra System: The Chakra System is also known as the human aura.
This aspect of subtle energy suggests that if there is an unresolved emotional
issue, this may result in blocked energy.

Resources: Exercises:

Unit

Exercise 2.2
Immediate, Intermediate, and Prolonged Stress Effects: This
exercise helps you understand each stage of stress levels. I think it is
important and beneficial to know these stages so you can identify the
stressors.

Exercise 3.1 Physical Symptoms Questionnaire: This exercise is very beneficial

for people to identify the signs of stress and

Tools: Journal Writing:

3.3 My Health Profile: It is important to know all of these things in your health
profile. For example if you have high blood pressure it could be a telltale sign
of stress. Therefore stress reduction may be able to alleviate this problem.

2.1 Stress Physiology Review: One reason why experts in mind-body medicine
think its a good idea to understand the physiology of stress is that this
knowledge helps with various relaxation skills, including mental imagery,
autogenic training, and biofeedback. Having this Knowledge of how your
bodys physiology works during times of stress augments your ability to
promote a deeper sense of relaxation and healing.

Unit 3: Feast or Famine

Information to Remember:

Defense Mechanism (Freud): The defense mechanism as described by Freud is

unconscious thinking patterns of the ego to either decrease pain or increase

pleasure. Denial, repression, projection, rationalization, displacement, and

humor are common forms of the defense mechanism.

Healthy Emotions: Many people consider joy, bliss, euphoria, and love to be
the healthy emotions, whereas anger and fear are labeled as unhealthy. In
truth, anger and fear are also considered to be healthy emotions, when they
are used specifically for their intended purpose.

The Death of Unmet Expectations: The death of unmet expectations explains

the stages of grieving. There are five stages of grieving. Denial, anger,
bargaining, depression and acceptance. Kbler-Ross states that these stages
are experienced by virtually every terminally ill patient. By no coincidence,
these same stages are observed, to a greater or lesser degree, among people
who go through other losses, including relationships, identity, and even
possessions.

Resources: Exercises:

Exercise 5.1 Anger Recognition Checklist: This particular exercise allows you
to recognize your reactions caused by anger. I think it is very important that
people are able to identify their behaviors.

Exercise 5.4 Anger: The Fight Response: Feelings of anger initiate the fight
response to defend oneself and the components that constitute ones identity.
This exercise allows you to identify how you deal with anger and if you
mismanage your anger. It gives you a better idea of how to handle your anger
to a point.

Exercise 5.7 Fear This: This exercise allows you to take a look at current fears
in your life and how you can deal with them. It also shows you how fears can
become a huge stressor.

Tools: Journal Writing:

Tools: 4.1 The Psychology of Your Stress about Feast or Famine: This journal
helps you become more aware of your perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors
during episodes of stress.

Unit 4: One Planet Under Stress

4
Unit

Information to Remember:

Ecological/Environmental Stressors: Stressors can be natural

environmental factors, or they may result from the activities of humans.
Some environmental stressors exert a relatively local influence.

Stress-Resistant Personalities: Someone with a stress resistant personality

would let small things roll off their back and deal with big problems in a
positive way. One example of a stress resistant personality would be the hardy
personality. A person with a hardy personality would demonstrate
commitment, they would challenge themselves to accomplish a goal or
to resolve a crisis with honor, and they would control their emotions in
a balanced way.

Self Esteem- The Bottom-Line Defense: Self esteem is the sense of

underpinning self-values, self-acceptance, and self-love. A persons level of self
esteem is an important factor for people when dealing with stress.

Resources: Exercises:

Exercise 7.5 Your Personal Value System: This exercise is important because it
allows you to lay out what things you value the most and how they fit into the
scheme of things.

Exercise 7.6 The Meaningful Purpose of Life: This exercise allows you to
determine what paths you take during life. Often times your life may lead you
to different areas but, this allows you to see a path.

Exercise 7.8 Distractions of the Human Path: This exercise shows you
different things that will distract you throughout your life. This gives you the

5
Unit

opportunity to see how much of a distraction they are.

Tools: Journal Writing:

6.2 Stress Prone Personality Survey: This one is a survey based on the traits of
the codependent personality. It allows you to identify the type of personality
traits you have.

Unit 5: Under Stress: What Now?

Information to Remember:

Cognitive Distortions: Some of these distortions include the all or nothing way
of thinking. This type of thinking is that it is either one way or another and
there is no common ground. There is also personalization. This way of
thinking is where you take credit for something you have little or nothing to do
with.

The Behavior Modification Model: There are many different behavior models
in effect all over the world today. Some of the models include healthy eating
and smoking cessations. Within these models self-esteem is one thing that is
worked on.

Humor Therapy: When dealing with humor therapy there are steps to initiate
the therapy. Some of these steps would include to learn not to take life too
seriously, find one humorous thing a day and even work to improve your
imagination and creativity.

Resources: Exercises:

6
Unit

Exercise 15.1 The Time Crunch Questionnaire: This particular exercise looks
for traits of a codependent personality.
It also touches on your time
management abilities.

Tools: Journal Writing:

9.1 Value Assessment and Clarification: This particular journal allowed me to

go through and see what my values where and how they fit with my life
currently. It also let me identify any conflicting values.

8.1 Reframing: Seeing a Bigger, Clearer Perspective: This journal allows you
to not be so simple minded and look at the whole picture rather than small
parts.

Unit 6: Ageless Wisdom of

Meditation
Information to Remember:

The Mystery of Breathing: Under normal resting conditions, the average

person breathes approximately fourteen to sixteen times per minute. In a state
of arousal, breathing is fast-paced and shallow, with pronounced muscular
contractions of the chest cavity. Breathing can also be a relaxation technique.

10

Meditation: A practice of increased concentration that leads to increased

awareness; a solitary practice of reflection on internal rather than external
stimuli. Meditation can be a great stress reliever allowing you to center your
body and your way of thinking.

Mental Imagery: You can take mental imagery with you anywhere. You can
employ it at any time. For example if you are giving a speech to hundreds of
people but you are very nervous you can simply imagine it in a more
comfortable environment that can essential make it easier to do.

Resources: Exercises:

Exercise 18.3 Bridging the Hemispheres of Thought: This particular exercise

allow you to see what you dominant way of thinking is. It tells you what side of
the brain allows for certain thought precesses.

Exercise 20.3 Three Short Guided Visualization: This exercise allowed you to
experience mental imagery and also allowed for relaxation.

Tools: Journal Writing:

17.1 Dolphin Breath Meditation: This particular journal allowed you to

understand how simple breathing techniques can work for you. I think that
being able to sit there and concentrate on your breathing is beneficial for
everyone!

11

Unit 7: Sight, Sound and Body Work

7
Unit

Information to Remember:

Aspects of Nutrition and Diet: Nutrition is a complex subject consisting of five

aspects: nutrients, digestion, absorption, metabolism, and elimination. The
focus is often placed on the first aspect, nutrients, but the other four are
equally important.

Nutrition Needs for Woman: Because of the reproductive system woman need
to pay special attention to their diets. While pregnant this is important
because you do not want your baby to be premature of have any birth defects.

Eating a Well Balanced Diet: An unbalanced diet leads to poor physical

performance. At a young age it can retard the physical growth process. During
the college years both men and women seem to function at an acceptable
level. But if habits are not corrected, the foundation is laid for a 503504series of
health-related problems later in life.

Resources: Exercises:

Exercise 27.1 Stress-Related Eating Behaviors: This exercise allows you to

identify certain stressors that cause you to eat more than usual or not at all. It
tells you whether or not your eating habits are conducive to relieving stress.

Exercise 27.2 Self-Assessment: Nutrition Eating Habits: This particular

exercise allows you to identify foods you eat most or even crave. It is a good
guide to see if you are eating a large enough variety of food for nutritional
reasons.

12

Tools: Journal Writing:

8
Unit

27.3 The Rainbow Diet: This journal entry tested you on your knowledge of
different fruits and vegetables. It also explains that the bodys primary chakra
is associated with a specific color.

Unit 8: The Wellness Mandala

Information to Remember:

Types of Physical Exercise: There are six components of fitness: cardiovascular

endurance, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility, agility, power, and
balance.

Psychological Effects of Exercise: When people initiated running programs

they begin to talk less about everyday problems. Running began to be a type
of therapy. Allowing people to reflect on their own current issues. Many
people came off of their prescribed medications an people stopped seeing their
therapists.

Physical Exercise and Chronic Pain: Pilates is actually one of the best forms of
exercise you can do to help relieve chronic pain associated with the lower
back. Exercise can also be the reason for chronic pain to specific joints. With
that being said, should your regular routine be too demanding, you should
have an alternate form of exercise you can participate in.

13

Resources: Exercises:

9
Unit

Exercise 28.1 Physical Exercise: I think this exercise is so beneficial in many

ways. Not just to see how exercise can reduce you stress levels but also how
exercise leads to a healthy lifestyle. This particular exercise allows you to map
out daily distractions.

Exercise 28.2 My Body, My Physique: This exercise puts in to light how so

many people do not like the way there current body, hair or skin is. If you are
not happy with yourself your lifestyle should change.

Tools: Journal Writing:

28.3 Your Circadian Rhythms: This particular journal explained how your body
is like a clock and when you add things that arent usually in your everyday life
you can often times be more stressed.

Unit 9: Applying Stress: Critical

Management to your Professional
Life
Information to Remember:

Information Seeking: A common coping technique; searching for detailed

information to increase awareness about a situation that has become a

14

perceived threat. It also involves collecting and processing facts about a

stressful event or situation

Social-Support Groups: Some social support groups include AA. Evidence

points to the idea that strong social support from friends may act to buffer
against the ill effects of stress and add to both the quality and quantity of life.

Prayer and Faith: Prayer is one of the oldest and most commonly used coping
mechanisms known to humankind. In its simplest form, prayer is thought: a
desire of the heart, and often a call for help in what can best be described as a
plea for divine intervention.

Resources: Exercises:

Exercise 17.1 Defining Your Support Group:

This exercise helps you
understand what kind of support group you have currently and who your
support group consists of.

Exercise 17.2 Hobbies and Outside Interests:

identify your current interests and hobbies.

Exercise 17.3 The Healing Power of Prayer: This exercise allows you to state
your intentions in prayer. To put your intentions in a positive light.

15

This exercise allows you to

10
Unit

Unit 10: Applying Stress: Critical

Management to your Personal Life
Information to Remember:

Key learning point from the unit about Applying Stress: Critical Management
to Your Personal Life <insert your text>

Key learning point from the unit about Applying Stress: Critical Management
to Your Personal Life <insert your text>

Key learning point from the unit about Applying Stress: Critical Management
to Your Personal Life <insert your text>

Resources: Exercises:

Exercise 24.1 The Yin and Yang of Life: This exercise allows you to identify
balance in your life. It gives the example of Yin and Yang and the differences.

Exercise 24.2 Energy: The Life Force: This exercise allows you to identify your
energy and your health status. It lets you identify how your energy levels are
throughout the day.

16

Additional Information
PRIMARY:
Smith, Melinda. HelpGuide.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.helpguide.org/mental/stress_management_relief_coping.htm>.
Moninger, J. (2014, February). How to Reduce Stress:10 Relaxation Techniques That Zap Stress Fast.
In WebMD. Retrieved March 7, 2014, from http://www.webmd.com/balance/guide/blissing-out-10relaxation-techniques-reduce-stress-spot
Bourne, E. J. (2011). The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook (Fifth ed.). N.p.: New Harbinger Publications.

Creagan E. T (2011). Video: Need To Relax? Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. March 9, 2011

17