Prevention of professional stress consultation on the topic

• Information stress. This type of professional stress is accompanied by severe mental and physical overload. The person who experiences it cannot make the right decision, thereby reducing the effectiveness of his work.
• Communication stress. A person’s lack of ability to establish competent working connections and resist aggression directed towards him (from the team).
• Emotional occupational stress. This type of stress is caused by the inability to adapt to the proposed circumstances (a person is constantly swimming against the current). As a rule, those who do not have the required level of professionalism face such emotional stress.

The concept of “types of professional stress” is a rather conventional indication. But it is this classification that helps to accurately find the source of emotional stress and successfully eliminate it.

Everyone should know this: preventing professional stress

Stress at work is almost inevitable, as noted above, 70% of the world's population are in one way or another susceptible to emotional stress. Prevention of professional stress is primarily aimed at relieving physical, emotional and mental stress.

Basic ways to overcome professional stress:

The level or scale of professional stress will help you find out the degree of your emotional stress. Modern companies conduct a “mini-survey” of their employees every quarter to assess the neuropsychic stability of the team.

Prolonged emotional stress is fraught with consequences and can lead to a number of serious diseases of the cardiovascular and central nervous system. Don't give in to stress at work if you want to maintain a great mood and well-being. Remember that health directly depends on your mood!

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Occupational health, prevention of occupational health disorders

Professional stress.

Stress.

Extreme situations in which a person finds himself, be it a victim or a rescuer, cause a stress reaction. Nowadays there is a lot of talk about stress associated with hard work, physical activity, tension, fatigue, various intra-family and other problems. The term “stress” is often used very loosely when describing a conflict at work, a quarrel with children, or an unsuccessful day. As a result, many conflicting definitions of this concept have appeared.

So what is stress? What is it like? Does stress always have negative consequences? When can its consequences be positive? Are there ways to cope with stress?

The founder of the doctrine of stress is Nobel Prize laureate, physiologist Hans Selye (1907 – 1982). A former student at the University of Prague in 1936 published the first results of monitoring patients suffering from disorders of various body systems. All such patients experienced loss of appetite, muscle weakness, high blood pressure, and loss of motivation to achieve. G. Selye designated these symptoms as a “simply disease syndrome,” showing that in this case many people have the same disorders in the body: changes in the adrenal cortex (increase in size, hemorrhages), depletion of lymphoid tissue (lymph nodes, thymus), stomach ulceration . To describe the totality of all nonspecific changes within the body, he introduced the concept of “stress”.

Stress is a nonspecific reaction of the body to any demand placed on it. A nonspecific reaction means that, regardless of the nature of the impact, the body’s reaction develops according to one mechanism.

Types of stress

1. Eustress and distress.

Eustress is stress that is caused by positive emotions or mild stress. This type of stress mobilizes the body, activates a person’s internal reserves, and improves the functioning of mental and physiological functions. A person feels a surge of strength, which allows him to work at a high level.

Distress is a destructive process that disorganizes human behavior and worsens the course of psychophysiological functions. Distress has a destructive force for our body. It negatively affects human health and can lead to serious illnesses.

2. According to the nature of the stress that causes it:

3. It is also necessary to take into account that stress can have different temporary characteristics. In this regard, categories were identified based on the time of occurrence and course of the stress reaction:

Acute stress. This is a reaction of the body that occurs directly in response to a traumatic situation. Characterized by short duration. It acts as a guide to adaptation in a changed situation. Acute stress is characterized by the absence of serious health consequences.

Delayed stress . It is characterized by some “delay” for a certain period of experiences (everyone has their own), which can be associated with various reasons. Delayed stress is a delayed response to a stressor.

For example: A firefighter’s close friend and colleague died, but he was unable to fully and immediately react to his emotions associated with the loss, because... all the troubles of organizing the funeral, caring for the loved ones of the deceased... fell on the shoulders of the firefighter. After 2 weeks, he again had to attend mourning events; his neighbor died. Relations with the neighbor were not particularly close. The fireman's wife was surprised that it was at this funeral that he was very worried and cried.

Thus, an emotional outburst to stress must be responded to. However, the simplest and most obvious way to respond is not always consistent with social norms of behavior. It is preferable to go in for sports, express emotions in creative forms of activity, talk with a close friend, rather than create a conflict with other people who have nothing to do with the stressful situation.

Constant accumulated (chronic) stress . Constant stress is a cumulative reaction to prolonged exposure to stressors that is invisible at first glance. The strength of the stressor's impact during accumulated stress is, as a rule, small, however, constant or regular. Constant emotional experiences that deplete the body can cause the development of diseases called adaptation diseases (urolithiasis, stress-induced diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, allergic reactions, bronchial asthma, etc.). Delayed and constant stress is much more destructive, since It takes a long time for a discharge to occur, and time in these cases works against a person.

Individual characteristics of people (physical health, age, gender, personal and professional experience, individual psychological characteristics, personal meaning of the event, etc.) are of great importance when responding to stress. These factors determine a person's resistance to stress.

Professional stress is stress that arises during a person’s work activity. This type of stress has its own characteristics, depending on the type of activity a person is engaged in and the profession as a whole. Thus, among extreme specialists, two mechanisms for the accumulation of professional stress can be distinguished: accumulated (chronic) stress, which we have already discussed, and traumatic.

The accumulation of professional stress can occur through two different mechanisms, depending on the mode of activity of specialists.

Traumatic stress. Extreme situations are characterized by a strong psychological impact of events, incidents and circumstances that affect the employee’s psyche, which can sometimes lead to maladaptation.

Traumatic stress is a condition that occurs in a person who has experienced a situation that goes beyond ordinary human experience: a threat to one’s life or the life of loved ones, death, participation in hostilities, violence, natural disasters, catastrophes, etc. Traumatic stress occurs when two components are simultaneously present: a threat to one’s life or the life of loved ones and the lack of ability to control the situation, the inability to do anything, helplessness.

Professional stress

Based on the medical definition of stress, a violation of professional adaptation is regarded as a neurotic syndrome. That is, neurosis. This is a psychosomatic disorder described by the German psychiatrist Jaspers in 1913. Any type of professional stress has signs of Jaspers’ triad:

In advanced cases, eliminating the cause is impossible because occupational stress progresses to mental illness.

A person's susceptibility to mental trauma occurs only when there is an imbalance between capabilities and abilities. In other words, in conditions of overestimation of one’s own strengths.

Explanatory note

The purpose of the course: to develop in students a systematic understanding of professional stress, its causes, manifestations and consequences; developing the skills to conduct scientifically based diagnostics of stress and conditions of reduced performance and implement training programs in stress management techniques.

Course objectives: to provide students with scientific and practical information on the problem of diagnosing and managing stress in an organizational context, methodological tools that provide a systematic diagnosis of professional stress, as well as methodological materials for the practical development of stress management tools and techniques.

As a result of completing this course, students should

know:

• conceptual apparatus in the field of psychological research of occupational stress;
• basic systematization of stress factors and situations;
• grounds for differentiating different forms and types of professional stress;
• systematization of techniques and means of psychoprophylaxis and stress correction;
• basic schemes for constructing training programs designed to teach techniques and means of stress management;
• basic organizational forms of implementation of programs and psychological technologies for state management.

be able to:

• analyze organizational conditions and professional factors contributing to the development of professional stress;

• successfully navigate the field of psychoprophylactic and psychocorrectional methods and means that are acceptable for use in organizational settings for the purpose of effective correction of stressful conditions;

• justify the need to use psychological influences in order to form an optimal functional state adequate to the professional tasks of a specialist;

• implement applied stress management programs mastered as part of the training course in organizations

Connection of the course with the main disciplines of the block and specialization: the content of the course allows you to integrate information about various negative conditions obtained in courses in occupational psychology and engineering psychology.

Key words: stress, stressor, adaptation, professional stress, mental and professional health, borderline states, physiological stress, psychological stress, coping behavior, strategies for coping/overcoming stress, activity regulation, extremeness, mental tension, personal and professional deformations, stress management (prevention and correction of stress).

Types of professional stress

Overstrain of the nervous system during the performance of work duties is manifested by emotional outbursts that provoke extreme situations. Over time, the threshold of extremeness decreases, and it is not difficult to piss off an employee who is under constant overstrain. Sometimes a loud sound or bright light from a lamp that suddenly turns on is enough for this to happen.

Psychologists distinguish the following types of professional stress among enterprise employees:

The types of adaptation syndrome in the field of industrial relations largely depend on the nature of the individual, but they proceed in the same way for everyone.

Course content

Section 1. The problem of stress: history and current state

Topic 1. Stress and the problem of adaptation

Socio-economic and medical-demographic aspects of the study of stress in economically developed countries. Criteria for assessing the impact of stress on human health. Stress and behavioral adaptation disorders. Diseases of “stress etiology” and forms of personal maladjustment. Criteria for assessing the negative consequences of stress at the individual and population levels.

Topic 2. Professional stress in the life of a modern specialist

Occupational stress and human health. The concepts of “mental health”, “professional health”. Stress and performance reliability. Stress and borderline states. The main areas of study of stress in modern psychological research.

Topic 3. The classical theory of stress by G. Selye, its role in the development of psychological concepts for the study of stress

History of the development of the concepts of adaptation and homeostatic regulation of the body’s vital activity in physiology and psychophysiology. The concept of general adaptation syndrome introduced by G. Selye. “Triad of signs” of stress, physiological mechanisms of its occurrence. Stages of development of stress reactions according to G. Selye. The difference between the concepts of “eu-stress” and “distress”. The main “lessons” of the classical theory of G. Selye and its role in the development of psychological concepts for the study of stress.

Section 2. Modern psychological approaches to the analysis of occupational stress

Topic 4. Ecological approach to the study of stress.

Schematic diagram of stress analysis in models of “person-environment” interactions. Stress as a result of an imbalance between environmental demands and human resources. Methods for analyzing sources of stress and its negative consequences. “Vitamin model” of mental health by P. Warr. “Professional epidemiology”: forecast of health disorders and personal maladaptation based on risk factors of the professional environment (V. Castle).

Topic 5. Transactional approach to the study of stress.

Cognitive model of the development of psychological stress by R. Lazarus. The role of the subjective image of the situation and cognitive assessment factors in the development of stress reactions. The concept of coping strategies/overcoming stress (coping mechanisms), their classification according to the type of main focus. Individual forms of coping behavior (S. Hobfoll’s model). T. Cox's transactional model of stress. Examples of empirical research on stress based on transactional models.

Topic 6. Regulatory approach to the study of stress.

Changes in activity regulation mechanisms during the development of stressful conditions. Regulatory models of the dynamics of human states (D. Broadbent, A.B. Leonova). Acute and chronic forms of stress conditions, symptom complexes of their manifestations. States of adequate mobilization and dynamic mismatch as different types of productive and unproductive responses to a stressful situation (V.I. Medvedev). Structural and systemic analysis of stress conditions, examples of applied research.

Section 3. Stress syndromes in the process of state dynamics

Topic 7. Acute and chronic forms of stress conditions

The concepts of “extreme conditions” and “extremeness”. Absolute and relative extremity. Stress factors of an absolute nature (stresses of the environment). Stress factors of a mediating nature (novelty, complexity, significance of behavioral tasks). Stress and mental tension (according to N.I. Naenko). Acute stress and states of emotional tension. The main psychological components of chronic stress syndrome (anxiety, aggression, depression, asthenia, somatization of vegetative symptoms of stress).

Topic 8. Syndromes of personal and behavioral deformations of the stress type

Professional and personal accentuations. Type A behavior. Burnout syndrome.

Development of borderline neurotic states as a consequence of intense stress. Post-traumatic stress syndrome. Stages of experiencing critical life situations and overcoming them (M. Horowitz model). Temporal dynamics and psychological characteristics of the main stages (“shock”, “refusal”, “invasion”, “experience”, “exit”), possible negative consequences.

Section 4. Stress management: diagnosis, assessment and correction of stress

Topic 9. Comprehensive methodology for assessing and correcting psychological stress

Modern technologies for stress management (stress management) – from diagnosis to integral assessment and correction. Three-level model of integrated stress assessment. Implementation in the form of expert diagnostic systems. Individual stress profile and selection of targeted corrective and preventive measures. Examples of applied implementation of a comprehensive stress management methodology.

Topic 10. Methods of prevention and correction of stress

Basic approaches to dealing with stress. General classification of methods for preventing and correcting stress.

Examples of methods for eliminating the causes of stress - the “object paradigm” (work and rest schedules, time-management, creating conditions for a “healthy lifestyle”, etc.)

“Subjective paradigm” – passive and active subject. Examples of methods of direct influence on the human condition (pharmacotherapy, nutritional culture, reflexology, functional music, suggestive influences).

Mechanism of development of professional stress

Adaptation syndrome at the level of higher nervous activity of a person undergoes three stages of development:

What is professional stress and how to avoid it?

The very concept of “stress” means “pressure”. When the body cannot withstand the load placed on it, then all protective forces are mobilized, almost all the time being in a state of “war”.

Professional stress is a state of constant physical and mental tension that occurs under the influence of unfavorable factors associated with a person’s professional activity.

In ICD-10, this disorder is assigned a separate section under code F 43.

The influence of stress on professional activity

When exposed to stressors, special physiological processes occur. The body's reaction proceeds as follows:

• there is an increased release of adrenaline into the blood, where it accumulates and can have a toxic effect on the organ of thinking;
• in mobilization to fight the stressor, all the forces of the body are involved, which are wasted;
• the constant presence of an irritating factor keeps the body in tension all the time.

Due to the influence of adrenaline on the brain, a person begins to think slowly, it is difficult for him to concentrate on solving problems, he begins to forget everything and, as a result, he is unable to make decisions. And this is an additional reason for concern.

Periodic consumption of the body's resources leads to fatigue. Since strength is not restored properly due to the fact that the worker is exposed to overexertion every day, a stage of exhaustion, mental and physical, quickly sets in. The impact of stress on professional activity is expressed in the following:

• decline in productivity - the employee cannot cope with the volume of work that was previously within his power;
• he becomes unable to solve even simple problems;
• discipline is violated due to constant fatigue and lack of sleep (insomnia);
• discord in relationships with work colleagues;
• a person becomes angry and irritable, reacts nervously to the slightest comments addressed to him - even if he was previously reasonable, calm and polite;
• absenteeism - a person is so exhausted that he is no longer able to force himself to come to work;
• An extreme reaction is nervous breakdowns, hysterics right in the workplace, even assault on the part of a stressed employee.

Another consequence of professional burnout is deterioration in health. As a result, the employee gets sick more often and is forced to take sick leave, which also does not have a positive effect on the productivity of the work process.

Mechanisms of accumulation of professional stress

The state of stress develops gradually. The whole process stretches out over an indefinite period of time.

During this time, mental and physical defense systems “get used” to catching appropriate signals coming from the external environment. These signals are like a call to action for nerve cells.

Over time, the body remembers these signals and becomes excited, even if there is no immediate threat.

For example, for an employee, a daily morning “planning meeting” in the boss’s office is a stressor. Defense systems “record” the sound of the boss’s voice and every time a person hears it, he begins to experience all the symptoms of stress. As a result, being at the workplace itself becomes unbearable for the employee.

Under the influence of stress, a person can commit actions that he would never do in a normal state and for which he later becomes ashamed.

For example, having received an unfair reprimand from his immediate supervisor, an employee lashed out at his innocent partner. Or did the job with the marriage because he couldn’t take control of himself. As a result, a person experiences a feeling of guilt, which further increases the pathological condition.

The need for constant self-control is another factor contributing to the development of the process. A person is in constant tension. The high pace of work is one of the main stressors.

Gradually, the influence of all these factors accumulates like a snowball. At one moment the person will be covered by an “avalanche”, i.e. the culmination stage of development of the stressful state will be reached.

Types of professional stress

Here is a classification developed by N.V. Samukina. Types of professional stress:

1. Informational. Formed under strict time constraints. A typical feature is insufficient awareness of the situation; information data changes quickly.
2. Emotional. Develops in the presence of real or imagined danger. This could be tense relationships with others or feelings of guilt for doing a poorly done job.
3. Communicative. Occurs when work involves constant communication.
4. Achievement stress. The progress is too small compared to what was expected.
5. Stress due to fear of making a mistake. It develops among perfectionists, or if employees are severely punished for mistakes (fines, deprivation of bonuses).
6. Competition stress. Relationships in a team are like horse racing, where the main prize is a step up the career ladder. As a result, a person “drives” himself, like a horse in a race.
7. The stress of success. The most mysterious: after reaching the professional peak, one observes a loss of meaning of what has been achieved and a fall into depression.
8. Stress due to lack of money. A person is afraid of losing necessary material goods.

Large incomes are also a reason for stress. A person gets used to a new way of life and is afraid of losing it, as well as his profit.

Symptoms and ways to cope with stress

Symptoms of occupational stress are divided into three types: behavioral, somatic and emotional. Signs of behavioral symptoms:

• indecision;
• the habit of blaming others or yourself for everything;
• alcohol abuse, frequent smoking breaks;
• taking tranquilizers or sleeping pills;
• inattentive driving;
• addiction or aversion to food.

Somatic symptoms. Signs:

• interruptions in heart rhythm;
• sensations of pain and compression in the heart area;
• digestive problems, cramps, diarrhea, acute pain in the abdominal area;
• frequent urge to urinate;
• a feeling of “needles” in the hands and feet;
• muscle tension, back pain and neck pain;
• frequent headaches, migraines;
• feeling of a lump in the throat;
• blurriness of objects when looking at them;
• skin rashes.

Emotional symptoms. Signs:

• constant anxiety;
• mood swings;
• detachment from the external environment;
• insensitivity towards others;
• high irritability;
• constant fatigue, it is difficult to start working, it is difficult to concentrate.

To overcome a painful condition, you need the help of a psychologist.

It is important to learn to abstract yourself from the source of stress during working hours. Relaxation techniques, meditation, and autoregulation of breathing will help. You can overcome absent-mindedness with the help of special concentration exercises.

Before going to bed, it is useful to walk, listen to soothing music, take a bath with aromatic oils and herbal decoctions. At night, drink warm milk with honey or soothing tea, collection.