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What follows is a Stress Audit conducted on a 45 year old office manager who sought consultation for a variety of distressing physical symptoms which caused her great concern. After seeing her family doctor who could find no organic reason for her problems, she took the Stress Audit to determine if stress could be a factor in her condition.
Jane was a hard working manager in a small office where she was often left in charge of the day to day running of the organization. She described herself as "a bit of a perfectionist" who found it difficult to say no to others and often worried about hurting people's feelings. She would never ask anyone to do what she herself would not, but often experienced resentment from fellow workers who viewed her as too eager to please the boss. While she appeared to be confident and effecient to others, she was sensitive and her feelings were often hurt by the reaction she got from many of the people in her life.
When questioned about the stress in her life, she reported that she felt that she did a good job of keeping things under control and felt that she handled her stress well. She was somewhat embarassed to be speaking about the factors in her life because she did not like to complain. She was sure that her symptoms were physical and had little to do with stress, since she felt that everyone had some stress in their lives.
The results of the Stress Audit surprised Jane with the accuracy with which specifics of her situation at work were pinpointed. She agreed with the conclusions and recommendations, especially those dealing with her vulnerability to stresss. As a result of the feedback provided to her she has made significant changes in the way she goes about her work, clarifying expectations to others and making more time for herself. She sought professional help in dealing with her stress and many of her symptoms began to improve. She discovered that she was angry with the way people treated her and began to express it to others, who were surprised to learn that Jane had feelings. She began to take better care of herself to reduce her vulnerability to stress and discovered that life began to feel less like an obligation and more like a treat. Jane was able to use the objective feedback from her Stress Audit to identify the sources of her stress and to make some changes in her life.
SAMPLE STRESS AUDIT:
Personal Report for JANE DOE
Date of Administration: March 25, 1998
The report that you are about to read, JANE, is about stress. But it is quite different from anything else you have ever read or heard about stress. It`s about stress as it relates to you. Based on the information you have provided by taking the Stress Audit, this report is aimed at helping you understand something about how stress affects you. It will give you some helpful hints on how to better manage stress and how to make yourself less vulnerable to the symptoms of too much tress.
Stress is epidemic in the western world. Over two-thirds of office visits to physicians are for stress related illness. It is a major contributing factor, either directly or indirectly, to coronary artery disease, cancer, respiratory disorders, accidental injuries, cirrhosis of the liver, and suicide - the six leading causes of death in the United States. It aggravates other conditions such as multiple sclerosis, diabetes, genital herpes, and mental illnesses of all types.
The stress epidemic is an extremely costly one. The medical costs alone have been estimated at well over one billion dollars per year in the United States alone. Stress costs U. S. industry somewhere between 50 and 75 billion dollars per year in terms of absenteeism, lost productivity, and workman's compensation claims. The cost in human misery is incalculable.
Uncontrolled stress can interfere with your personal, intimate, and marital relationships. It can diminish your personal creativity and productivity and damage your career. And once stress gets out of control it seems to feed on itself and only get worse. You can't eliminate stress and probably wouldn't want to if you could. But you can manage it so that it doesn't damage your life, but, rather, enriches it.
Stress has always been with us. But in the days of the cave people the things that caused stress and the ways of dealing with them were quite different than they are today. Early humans had to deal with life or death situations that demanded immediate physical reactions. Most of the stress situations that you face today are of a different type.
Confronted by a snarling sabre-toothed tiger, for instance, your early ancestors had two options: to either run or fight. In order to either run of fight, a complex set of bodily reactions must be activated. This set of reactions involves primarily the release of adrenalin and other hormonal substances. It speeds heart rate, increases blood pressure, increases the availability of energy stores, increases metabolism,
increases muscle strength, and makes the body resistant to infection and inflamation. The response to threat that prepared your ancestors for extreme physical activity is known as the "fight or flight" reaction.
You are the decendent of a long line of people who had very good "fight or flight" reactions to danger. You have inherited strong "fight or flight" mechanisms from them. The problem is that fighting or fleeing is not as appropriate today as it was in earlier times. You have "fight or flight" reactions in threatening situations, but you seldom act them out.
When confronted with an angry boss, competitive, uncooperative co-workers, hostile employees, etc. , you may feel like fighting or fleeing, but you seldom do. If you are like most people, you just sit and stew. Your mind and body pay the price when this happens too often.
Stress is the state of tension that is created when a person responds to the demands and pressures that come from the outside as well as those that come from the inside. Demands and pressures require some kind of response. Any response, no matter how small, involves some activation of the "fight or flight" response. A number of studies have shown that stress is both additive and cumulative. This means that the demands and pressures that come from the outside and the inside add up and pile up over time to create a total burden of demands and pressures. The greater your total burden, the stronger your "fight or flight" reaction to manage it.
"Fight or flight" reactions that are too extreme, too frequent, or too prolonged, place a strain on your mind and body. Strain leads to system failures of mind and body and you begin to experience mental and physical symptoms. Your symptoms then become sources of demand and pressure in and of themselves and add to your total burden of demands and pressures.
Some people are more vulnerable to stress than other people and all of us vary from time-to-time in our individual vulnerability. Your vulnerability to stress is determined by a set of complex interactions among your biological predisposition, health behaviors, lifestyle considerations, and your financial, spiritual, and social resources for coping with stress.
The first step in effectively managing your stress levels is to identify your sources and symptoms of stress and the issues that make you vulnerable to stress. Taking the Stress
Audit was your first step in managing your stress problems. The Stress Audit provides you with a detailed and quantified picture of stress in your life and tells you where you stand in comparison to other people with respect to stress.
The stress scores in this report were obtained from your responses to the Stress Audit. Your responses have been compared to those of a large number of individuals who have also taken the Stress Audit. Your scores will tell you where you stand in relation to other people in terms of your sources of stress, symptoms of stress, and vulnerability to stress.
The report itself is organized into three parts. The first part deals with identifying the sources of stress in your life and gives you some suggestions about how to deal with them. Part two says something about the symptoms of stress you are dealing with and gives you some ideas about reducing them. The third part of the report has to do with your vulnerability to stress and identifies some specific things to do to make it possible to handle more stress more effectively.
STEP ONE: KNOW YOUR DRAGONS ...
The first step in effectively managing your stress levels is to identify your sources and symptoms of stress and the issues that make you vulnerable to stress. Taking the STRESS AUDIT, was your first step in managing your stress problems. The STRESS AUDIT provides you with a detailed and quantified picture of the sources and symptoms of stress in your life and tells you where you stand in comparison to other people with respect to stress.
Your SITUATIONAL STRESS, JANE, is higher than 46% of the general population.
Your overall level of situational stress is mild and places you at the 46th percentile for the general population. Situations relating to Work or School should, however, be reviewed since these areas are elevated. Individuals scoring in this range generally are handling the challenges of life fairly well, although you may be feeling more stressed than you would care to be in certain areas of your life. You should feel free to talk with family members, friends, or to seek professional help in finding ways to reduce the level of stress that you are experiencing.
The degree of elevation for each of the individual situational stress scales, as well as any specific items you reported as being "very stressful" (4 or 5) are listed below. Numbers in the first column represent your rating for the past six months, the second column for the next six months, and the third column is the combined rating for past and future. Both events of the past and anticipation of future events contribute to a total burden of demands and pressures.
Family - Higher than 27% of the general population
Difficulties with other family members
Individual Roles - Higher than 27% of the general population
Not enough time for yourself
Not enough time to get things done
Social Being - Higher than 31% of the general population
Environment - Higher than 38% of the general population
Finances - Higher than 31% of the general population
Cash flow problems
Work or School - Higher than 79% of the general population
Ambiguous lines of authority
Meeting work or school goals
Too tired to get work done
Overwork
Pressured deadlines
Many emergencies at work
Fear of error
Lack of company/school concern about workers/students
Responsibility without authority
Lack of privacy at work
These are problems and all problems can be dealt with. If you need help in dealing with them don`t be afraid to ask for it.
Your SYMPTOM STRESS, JANE, is higher than 73% of the general population.
The level of stress that you report involving symptoms places you at the 73rd percentile for the general population. Symptoms at this moderately elevated level are irritating and bothersome. Elevations appear in the Sympathetic, Cognitive, and Endocrine systems and should be reviewed. You may want to seek professional help in dealing with them.
Your standing on the individual symptom scales, as well as any specific symptoms you reported as being "very stressful" (4 or 5) are listed below. Numbers in the first column represent your rating for the past six months, the second column for the next six months, and the third column is the combined rating for past and future.
Muscular - Higher than 46% of the general population
Tension headaches
Parasympathetic - Higher than 34% of the general population
Sympathetic - Higher than 98% of the general population
Palpitations
Cold hands or feet
Rapid heart beat
Chest pains
Shortness of breath
Emotional - Higher than 46% of the general population
Anger and irritation
Feeling blue or depressed
Cognitive - Higher than 79% of the general population
Poor memory
Daydreaming
Indecisiveness
Endocrine - Higher than 97% of the general population
Arthritic joint pain
Menstrual difficulties
Skin rashes, or pimples
Fatigue, feeling tired
Immune - Higher than 34% of the general population
Feeling generally unwell or sick
One way of reducing your stress symptoms is by simply learning to relax all the muscles in your body completely and letting your mind go blank for a few minutes several times a day. Another way is talking about the things that trouble you with someone you trust. If things are really difficult and you don't have anyone you think you can talk to, try your local mental health center, or find a mental health professional in the phonebook and go see them.
When your symptoms are mainly physical, though, you should see your physician about them. You might want to take this report along with you so that he/she can review your problems with you.
STEP FOUR IN STRESS MANAGEMENT: REDUCING YOUR VULNERABILITY ...
The fourth and perhaps most important step in stress management, is making yourself less vulnerable to stress. The best way to prevent the development of stress symptoms is to take good care of yourself.
Some people are more vulnerable to stress than other people. And all of us vary from time-to-time in our individual vulnerability. Your vulnerability to stress is determined by a set of complex interactions among your biological predisposition, health behaviors, lifestyle considerations, and your financial, spiritual, and social resources for coping with stress.
Your VULNERABILITY TO STRESS, JANE, is higher than 73% of the general population.
This moderately elevated level of stress-related symptoms may be due, in part, to the way you are taking care of yourself, your lifestyle, and/or your lack of resources for coping with stress. Your reported level of vulnerability to stress places you at the 73rd percentile for the general population. This level of vulnerability to stress really should be corrected.
To enhance your capacity to cope with stress, you should look at the list of items you scored 4 or 5 (Never), which is printed below, and think about how you might be able to move these items closer to 1 (Almost Always).
4 I have one or more friends to confide in about personal matters.
4 I drink less than 3 cups of coffee (or tea or soft drinks containing caffeine) per day.
If you don`t think you will be able to change these things by yourself, talk to a family member, friends, or anyone you trust and whose advice you respect. The point is to get help. You don`t need to be as vulnerable to stress as you are.
If you are concerned about your level of stress, or have questions about any of the comments made in this report, talk to the individual who administered the Stress Audit, your employee assistance representative, physician, psychologist, or other stress management specialist. Most importantly of all, put it all altogether and get control of stress before it gets control of you.