1. Kelly Clarkson
Nietzsche

2. Stress, Traum
a, Coping &
Resilience

3. Stress - types
 FRUSTRATION
 CONFLICT
 CHANGE
 PRESSURE

4. FRUSTRATION
 We feel frustration in a situation where we are
prevented from reaching our goals.
 > goal, > frustration we feel if we cannot reach it
 E.g. flat tyre on the way to a job interview

5. CONFLICT
 We experience conflict when we need to
make a difficult decision between two or
more alternatives.
 The uncertainty and indecision caused by
the conflict situation results in stress.
 E.g. getting accepted into a university in
another city. It is a good uni but nervous
about leaving home and friends

6. CHANGE
 We experience change when something in our life
changes in an important way.
 This change makes it necessary for us to adjust and
adapt.
 Change can be mainly negative (i.e. divorce) or mainly
positive (i.e. graduating)

7. PRESSURE
 We are under pressure when we have to conform to or
fit in with the expectations or demands of other people
 Pressure to conform can come from family, friends and
broader society.
 i.e. Mario‟s father wants him to be a baker like him and
his father before him. Mario doesn‟t know how to tell his
father that he does not want to be a baker.

8. Physical and Psychological
Symptoms resulting from
stress
These figures
show the % of
Americans
surveyed by the
APA who
reported various
psychological and
physical
symptoms
resulting from
stress during
the past month.

9. CHRONIC STRESS
 State of persistent tension or pressure that
can lead us to feel exhausted, irritable and
depressed.
 Can include ongoing financial problems, job-
related problems, marital or relationship
conflicts and persistent pain
 Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

10. Post Traumatic GROWTH
 Chief of US Army: Suicide, PTSD, substance
abuse, divorce, depression… what does
positive psychology say about that?
Seligman: human reaction to extreme adversity
is bell shaped
 Majority of people are resilient – go through a
tough time but are back to where they were in
psychological and physical measures
 Large number of people show post-traumatic
growth – go through a very hard time, but a
year later, they are stronger than they were
before by psychological and physical
measures.

12.  Left hand side – people who fall apart: anxiety,
depression, suicide, PTSD
 Recommended the Army try to move the entire
distribution toward growth and resilience
 General Casey asked Seligman to train all
40,000 drill sergeants in skills of coping,
resilience and growth, then they will teach the
entire 1.1 million person army these skills and
measure if it prevents PTSD.
 Every month, 180 officers attend 10 days of
training in the Penn Resilience Program

13. Penn Resilience Program
 3 parts:
 1. Mental toughness
 2. Leading with strengths
 3. New social skills for leadership
 First learn how to use skills in own lives,
then learn how to teach them.
 Heavily based on Albert Ellis‟ ABC model…

14. ABC
 A = adversity
 B= beliefs
 C = emotional consequences
 A+B =C
 Work through professional As (i.e. fall out of a 3 mile
run) and personal A (return from deployment and son
does not want to play with you)
 Goal is to separate the A from what the thoughts in
the heat of the moment (B) and from the emotions or
actions the thoughts generate (C)

15. Techniques/Strategies
 Educating Mental literacy
 Identifying thinking traps:
 Soldiers learn about:
 overgeneralisation (judging a person‟s worth or ability based
on a single action),
 „icebergs‟ (deeply held belief that often lead to destructive
emotional reactions). Once the iceberg is identified, they are
asked if the iceberg continues to be meaningful to them, is it
is accurate in the given situation, if the iceberg is overly rigid.
 Minimising catastrophic thinking – “Putting it into
Perspective”. Worst case, best case, most likely case. Plan
is then developed for coping with the situation and placed
with both professional and personal examples

16. Optimism
 2009 review of 103 studies of post-traumatic
growth found that optimism was a major
contributor to growth.
 Important that mental toughness skills
capture the skills of learned optimism to
resist learned helplessness.

17. COPING

18. Coping strategies
 No single method of coping method is right
for everyone or every stressor.
 Coping strategies can be learned.
 Strategies can be
cognitive, emotional, behavioural or
physical.

19. Cognitive restructuring
 Changing the way we think – thinking more
calmly, rationally and constructively in the
face of stressors that may lead to a more
hopeful emotional outlook.
 E.g. “What if I fail”  “all I can do is the best
I can”
 Doesn‟t remove stressors but helps us
perceive them as less threatening and
therefore less disruptive.

20. Emotional
 Seeking social support and getting advice.
 Feeling cared about and valued by others
can be a buffer against the ill effects of
stressors, which can lead to enhanced
immune functioning and quicker recovery
from illness.

21. Behaviour
 Changing behaviour in order to minimise the
–ve impact of stressors.
 E.g. time management – know how you
spend your time and then schedule it for
following weeks.

22. Physical
 Can be used to alter the undesirable
physical responses that occur before, during
or after the appearance of stressors.
 Drug use, relaxation training, physical
exercise, biofeedback, meditation, tai chi.

23. Steps for coping with stress
STEP TASK
Assessment Identify the sources and effects of stress
Goal Setting List stressors and stress responses to be
addressed. Designate which stressors can and
cannot be changed
Planning List the specific steps to be taken to cope with
stress
Action Implement coping plans
Evaluation Determine changes in stressors and stress
responses as a result of methods
Adjustment Alter methods to improveresults if necessary