Coping with stress
By Barry S. Anton, PhD, APA President
December 2015, Vol 46, No. 11
3 min read
"For fast-acting relief, try slowing down."
— Lily Tomlin
I didn't know what to expect when I walked into my 50th high school reunion in October. Mixed feelings of anxiety and joyful anticipation swirled inside me. I felt my heart beating like I was going to the junior prom. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself and ventured in. I worried that I wouldn't recognize anyone without their yearbook pictures on their name tags. Luckily, the festive mood and warm greetings of old friends immediately dissipated my stress.
It was over too fast, but it was a nice interlude in my stress-filled life. As I got into my car late that Saturday night, I thought about the next day's travel to Washington, D.C., for the APA Education Leadership Conference and our upcoming meetings on Capitol Hill to advocate for subsidized student loans. Another stressful week in a long series of stressful weeks.
As psychologists, we know that stress and anxiety are flight-or-fight responses to threats. Feeling emotional or having difficulty sleeping and eating can all be natural reactions to stress, whether it's acute or chronic. Fear and worry can activate the physiological release of hormones that speed up our hearts, increase our breathing rates and enhance our blood flow. Research shows that long-term activation of the body's stress response can impair the immune system and increase the risk of physical and mental health problems.
As APA's "Stress in America" survey shows us each year, many Americans are living with significant stress. Not surprising given the Great Recession, Americans have been particularly stressed about finances in recent years. Work is one of the most commonly reported sources of stress. The survey also revealed that teen stress rivals adult stress, and teens often feel overwhelmed, depressed and sad. The survey noted that too little sleep coupled with too little exercise, and either overeating or eating unhealthy foods, are common among teens. In addition, teens who reported high stress reported being online about 3.2 hours per day compared to two hours a day for those teens who reported lower stress levels.
What can we do to help Americans cope with chronic stress? Here is some of the advice that APA offers on its public website:
Identify what's causing stress and take action.
Build strong, positive relationships: Connect with supportive friends and family members when you're having a difficult time.
Get regular exercise, eat nourishing food and participate in activities you enjoy.
Stay focused on the positive and avoid negative energy.
Avoid drugs and alcohol.
Rest your mind: Sleep, do yoga, meditate and perform relaxation exercises that can help restore energy.
Get help from a psychologist when you're overwhelmed.
I can't help but reflect on the level of stress that APA governance members and staff have experienced in the past few months in the wake of the independent review report. It found that some APA officials worked with military officials to have APA issue insufficiently restrictive ethical guidelines for military psychologists participating in national security interrogations.
Organizational change and transition can be stressful even in the best of times. APA's governance and staff are feeling enormous pressure to fulfill challenging obligations to help the association move forward. My hope is that we find healthy ways to deal with these transitions and not allow the stressors of change to affect our working relationships.