Monday, December 16, 2013

Important Facts On Stress Resilience

By Eugenia Dickerson


Stress resilience is the ability of an individual to cope with anxiety and tension. It is an attribute that helps the affected individual bounce back to a previous state of functioning following a major event in their life. The term may also refer to improved functioning after experiencing some difficulties. This is commonly known as post-traumatic growth. It is important to understand this phenomenon as a process that takes time to develop rather than a personal trait.

Naturally, most of us will react negatively to trauma, threats or adversity. Through the dynamic process of resilience, affected persons learn to drop negative behaviours and adopt a positive approach to things. This may be made possible through psychological treatments such as cognitive behaviour therapy. In the psychological therapies patients are encouraged to maintain a high self-esteem that will help them tackle their challenges. Social support especially from the immediate family is also very important.

There are a number of factors that have been identified as enhancing this attribute. Close relationships with your families and friends is one of them. This coupled to the ability to easily share experiences makes it much easier to cope with difficulties. Other factors include ability to seek help and resources, good communication skills and presence of a winning mentality.

Religion has been shown as one of the most important factors involved in developing a positive self-esteem in persons that are faced with challenging situations. It has been demonstrated through research that young persons that join the church improve their academic performance. The improvement appears to be related to the attendance of church and interaction with believers and not the doctrine. The church has traditionally exerted great influence on social, physical and emotional health.

The objective measure of resilience is known as the resiliency quotient or SRQ. This takes into account a number of things that reflect all the aspects of life. The areas that are highlighted include type of diet and regularity of eating. Quality of sleep is assessed based on the number of hours spent asleep and the sleeping environment. Other areas that have to be looked at include social relations and nature of social support, physical exercise and income among others.

After the resiliency quotient has been determined, the affected person can be advised appropriately. Typically, the quotient is given a numerical value that is in turn allocated a percentile with respect to the general population. Persons that score highly are regarded as being normal while those that are given low scores require some form of assistance. Both medical and psychological support may be required for the serious cases.

Stressful situations affect diverse systems in the body and often lead to serious dysfunction. One of the areas that are commonly affected is the musculoskeletal system. In this system, the main symptoms that are experienced include muscle and joint pains. The effects on the parasympathetic system are manifested in the gut and the genitourinary system. Other areas that are affected include the sympathetic, emotional, cognitive, endocrine and the immune system.

Stress resilience is a process that requires one to be actively involved in their recovery. It may take a long period of time or a short one depending on how committed one is. The most important thing is to develop a culture where you will strive to improve yourself on a daily basis. It is important to always have the family by your side for this to work.




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