Enhancing Human Performance Issues, Theories, and Techniques (1988) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
7 Stress Management
7 Stress Management
Pages 115-132
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 115... ...
Clearly, techniques that effectively reduce stress are likely also to improve performance. One purpose of this chapter is to review programs and approaches to stress reduction.
|
From page 116... ...
, the military has good reason to be concerned about the losses in work time and efficiency of task performance that arise from ongoing stress, medical leaves, and sick call. A notable feature of the stressfulness of Army life is the so-called zero defect rule: a single mistake can have lasting negative consequences on a career, both for noncommissioned and for comissioned officers.
|
From page 117... ...
to harm an enemy and that such preparation and readiness are not positive activities, how can one reasonably design interventions of a preventive, remedial, and quasi-therapeutic nature that stand some realistic chance of reducing stress reactions to a moderate level while allowing for effective and efficient learning and performance? We turn first to a consideration of the nature of stress, drawing on research on both animals and people.
|
From page 118... ...
Earlier, in the classic studies of Selye (1936) , stress was seen primarily as physical trauma tissue damage, blood loss, shock, exposure to cold.
|
From page 119... ...
The second time, there may be no elevation, yet the physical trauma is the same (blood loss hemorrhaging is a traditional physical stressor) (Levine)
|
From page 120... ...
Animals that did not have the signal preceding the shock showed an adrenocortical response that was two to three times that observed in animals with previous predictable shock experiences. It should be noted that the procedures used in this experiment are typical of those used in experiments examining learned helplessness (Seligman, 1975~.
|
From page 121... ...
TNDIVIDUAL AND INTRAPSYCHIC APPROACHES Intrapsychic approaches can be discussed under the following rubrics: arousal reduction, cognitive restructuring and problem solving, and behavioral skills training. Arousal Reduction Relaxation Training.
|
From page 122... ...
Thus, a maximum amount of feedback about the absence of danger in a potentially threatening situation became quickly obvious" (Levine paper: 19-201. Although we discussed biofeedback in Chapter 5 in terms of motor skills, here we discuss it as a technique that has been applied to stress reduction.
|
From page 123... ...
The answer to question 1 is mixed; some studies report significant change in the actual physiological measure used (EMG reduction, increased percentage EEG alpha) , others do not.
|
From page 124... ...
Meichenbaum and his co-workers have been successful in helping impulsive children control their behavior and thereby improve their problem-solving abilities and in helping college students who are anxious about taking tests improve their performance by talking themselves through their activities (e.g., "OK, take it slow. Let's see, what's the formula for figuring time and distance in travel?
|
From page 125... ...
In a combat situation it would seem that each soldier should be given as much information as possible about his situation and that of the enemy to help him manage stress levels and maintain arousal at a useful motivational level. Behavioral Skills Training Chapter 5 of this report discusses the learning of motor skills.
|
From page 126... ...
The secretarial example brings us to the next major section, environmental change as an approach to stress reduction, for what comes to mind is the difficulty a secretary usually has in shutting out external distractions in order to create internal prime time for working on the manuscript. The work environment itself may proscribe or at least make extraordinarily difficult the structuring of the context that would be most conducive to the reduction of stress and thereby the enhancement of performance.
|
From page 127... ...
Such research, aimed at teaching anger control and other strategies to drill instructors, is intrapsychic in nature vis a vis the drill instructors being trained, but it is effectively environmental change as far as the "grunts', are concerned, for as a result they are confronted with a training environment that is likely to be different from the typically more aggressive atmosphere prevalent in Marine boot camps. Desired changes produced in an individual are successful insofar as they enhance his or her skill in dealing with environmental demands.
|
From page 128... ...
People diagnosed as having posttraumatic stress disorder, although surely different from one another in countless ways before trauma, do have in common in their lives a major, salient, and powerful happening in the words of the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (1980:236) , "a psychologically traumatic event that is generally outside the range of usual human experience." The manual goes on to state, as ..
|
From page 129... ...
Instead of implicitly concluding that a person would be all right were he or she made of sterner stuff, the third edition of the manual acknowledges the onerousness of the traumatizing circumstances (Haley, 19781. Treatment of PTSD There is very little controlled research on the treatment of PTSD in the military, although there are many case reports of therapeutic interventions with personnel suffering from the disorder (formerly called shell shock or battle fatigue)
|
From page 130... ...
The earliest and perhaps most crucial period for the soldier is basic training, or boot camp, that unique period of four to ten weeks when a young civilian is turned into a military person through a carefully planned and closely supervised regimen of highly demanding physical and psychological challenges. Beds are to be made only one way, answers to questions delivered in just a certain way, posture maintained in a certain way, and many complex skills acquired, from shooting a ride to pitching a tent.
|
From page 131... ...
The extreme physical stressor that is boot camp, therefore, came to be viewed and reacted to as less of a stressor, consistent with our earlier observations about the cognitive core of stress. A study being done by Novaco and Sarason at both Parris Island and San Diego endeavors to impart to drill instructors coping information and encouragement regarding anger control, evaluation anxiety, the virtues of patience, and the utility of supportive social relationships.
|
From page 132... ...
At the same time, however, the moral dimensions of stress reduction should be mentioned in order to sensitize social scientists, policymakers, and the military to the distinction between what one can do and what one ought to do.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.