Rowley Associates

“The graveyards are full of people who thought they were indispensible” – Old Yorkshire saying.

How are you coping with stress – take the COPE to identify which coping strategies you use.

It’s a few weeks to New Year’s but as 2009 comes to a close I figure it’s never too late to do a mental health check. A recent survey by the American Psychological Association found that:

• 42% of Americans report stress has increased over the past year (compared to 47% in 2008)
• Most people rely on sedentary activities to manage their stress (49% - this percentage includes watching T.V., reading and sleeping)
• 43% say they eat too much or eat unhealthy foods because of stress
• Nearly half of all adults report laying awake at night worrying (47%)

It’s a pretty sobering picture. The figures for the workplace are just as bad. Workplace bullying is on the increase; many complain of impossible workloads; and job insecurity is causing significant physical and emotional health problems. A recent survey by NICE concluded that 13.7 million working days are lost each year as a result of work related illness.

You are probably experiencing excessive work related stress if you:

• Constantly feel anxious, irritable or angry
• Have significant problems sleeping
• Have trouble concentrating
• Feel constantly tired
• Increase the use of alcohol, cigarettes or drugs to cope
• Hurry Sickness (multi-tasking on steroids; lot of activity little achievement)

Then there is burnout.

Burnout has three components*:

Emotional Exhaustion.
For example:

• I feel emotionally drained from your work
• I feel like I’m at the end of my rope
• I feel used up at the end of the workday
• Working with people all day is really a stress for me

Cynicism.
For example:

• I don’t really care what happens to people I work with
• I’ve become more callous toward people since taking this job

Lack of Personal Accomplishment.
For example:

• I feel I make an effective contribution to what this organization does
• I have accomplished many worthwhile things in my job
• In my work, I deal with emotional problems very calmly

How burnout differs from stress

There are some significant differences between feeling stressed and being burnout.

Report Card

As you read through this post how many of the symptoms or behaviors of stress or burnout did you feel applied to you? If you found yourself nodding in agreement or mentally checking how many applied to you, then you may be at risk of work-related stress or burnout. So what can you do to protect yourself from stress? 

There are three ways to cope with stress (or distress); problem focused coping aimed at altering the source of stress, emotional focused coping dealing with the management of the feelings accompanying the situation, and finally dysfunctional coping directed at dulling the emotions through alcohol or drugs. People use problem-focused strategies when they believe they can change the cause of distress and emotional focused coping when they feel they have no alternative but to endure the situation.

Examples of problem focused coping:

• Planning
• Asking for advice, assistance or information from others
• Engaging with the problem
• Learning new skills (for example relaxation or other stress management skills)

Examples of emotional focused coping

• Looking on the bright-side
• Disengagement
• Denial (see other dysfunctional defense mechanisms)

Examples of Dysfunctional Coping

• Retail therapy (when the going gets tough the tough go shopping)
• Alcohol
• Drugs
• Venting

How effective is your coping strategy – take the COPE survey. Premium Content Members Only!

Want more help? Contact us at info@rowleyassoc.com for a consultation.

* These items are taken from the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the gold standard for measuring burnout in organizations.