Lecture 45- Improving Stress Tolerance — Transcript

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1. 0:17Namaskar friends, welcome to lecture
2. 0:20five of module 9 of the stress
3. 0:23management course.
4. 0:26This particular module is focused upon
5. 0:29individual differences in stress
6. 0:31tolerance. And in initial four lectures
7. 0:35we have talked about various factors
8. 0:37that can make significant differences in
9. 0:40the way the individuals perceive and
10. 0:44experience stress and also how they deal
11. 0:48with them.
12. 0:49The last lecture of this module however
13. 0:52deals with the ways in which one can
14. 0:56work upon these factors so that he or
15. 1:00she can increase the strength and the
16. 1:04efficiency to tolerate stress and to
17. 1:08resolve the problems which are present
18. 1:11in his or her immediate environment. Let
19. 1:14us begin with this lecture.
20. 1:18Our lecture is divided into three main
21. 1:22segments. The first segment talks about
22. 1:25what happens if we have low stress
23. 1:28tolerance. The second segment takes up
24. 1:32the personality type A, B and C and
25. 1:37provide specific
26. 1:40techniques to work upon the uh the
27. 1:45shortcomings of those people who are
28. 1:48having a particular type of personality
29. 1:51and the way these shortcomings can be
30. 1:54overcome so that the person becomes
31. 1:58better adapted to his or her environment
32. 2:02and reduces the level of perceived
33. 2:05distress significantly.
34. 2:07And the last segment talks about some
35. 2:10general techniques that can be adapt
36. 2:13adopted by anybody and which are linked
37. 2:16with the coping style and the uh you
38. 2:19know demographic and psychological
39. 2:21factors and the past experiences that
40. 2:24can be adopted by anyone. No matter what
41. 2:28kind of personality traits people have
42. 2:31or whether they have the hardiness or
43. 2:33not, these strategies can be utilized.
44. 2:36So you can call them the non-specific
45. 2:39way to increase stress tolerance. Let us
46. 2:43begin this presentation.
47. 2:46So as I told you the first segment will
48. 2:50talk about what happens if we have a low
49. 2:53stress tolerance. Obviously people who
50. 2:56have low tolerance towards stress will
51. 3:00get affected even by minute stresses if
52. 3:04comes in their environment somehow.
53. 3:08Every small problem can be perceived as
54. 3:11a big problem and the level of stress
55. 3:14experience will be disproportionately
56. 3:18high.
57. 3:20This can lead to impaired cognitive
58. 3:22functions, poor decision making and
59. 3:25significant impairments in work rellated
60. 3:29performance.
61. 3:32Moreover, mental health issues can be
62. 3:35created. The most common of them are
63. 3:38anxiety and depression which can lead to
64. 3:42burnouts in extreme cases.
65. 3:45Besides this
66. 3:47occurrence of psychosomatic illnesses is
67. 3:51quite common. It may range from
68. 3:54hypertension, hypoglycemia, amma to
69. 3:58coronary heart diseases and even to
70. 4:01cancer which is common in people having
71. 4:05personality type C just because they
72. 4:08rely heavily on suppressing or
73. 4:11repressing their emotions instead of
74. 4:15expressing them in a socially sanctioned
75. 4:18manner and thus resolving their
76. 4:20emotional problem. First of all, we will
77. 4:23talk about personality type A. If you
78. 4:27remember in this module in earlier
79. 4:29lectures, we talked about three
80. 4:32different personality types A, B and C.
81. 4:37People having personality type A are
82. 4:40characterized by time urgency,
83. 4:44their extreme emphasis on attaining
84. 4:48perfection,
85. 4:50a sense of superiority over the others
86. 4:54and their tendency to work continuously
87. 4:58without taking breaks.
88. 5:01They are hostile,
89. 5:03highly competitive and do not hesitate
90. 5:07in showing aggression.
91. 5:11Overall, this type of personality is
92. 5:15very much vulnerable towards developing
93. 5:18stress related problems both physical
94. 5:22and psychological. So it is important
95. 5:25for the person himself who has type a
96. 5:28personality as well as for people around
97. 5:31him or her to handle the problems of
98. 5:36this personality types effectively.
99. 5:40First of all, the person should do a
100. 5:43self appraisal, thorough self appraisal
101. 5:46of oneself so that the person can
102. 5:50understand what kind of characteristic
103. 5:52he or she possesses.
104. 5:56A thorough appraisal, a proper
105. 5:58reflection,
106. 5:59introspection of oneself, of one's
107. 6:02behavior, of one's characteristic
108. 6:05can enable the individual to list the
109. 6:09dominant characteristics of his
110. 6:11personality, the dominant aspects of his
111. 6:15behavioral repertoire.
112. 6:17So if the person finds himself entering
113. 6:20into frequent aggressive behaviors, if a
114. 6:24person finds himself being in constant
115. 6:27hurry even for very normal issues of
116. 6:31life, one can properly think about
117. 6:37the corrective measures. It is important
118. 6:41to believe that the personalities can be
119. 6:45changed up to a satisfactory level if it
120. 6:49cannot be completely transformed. In the
121. 6:53very beginning when we started talking
122. 6:55about personalities we discussed the
123. 6:58definition of Alport which suggested the
124. 7:02personality is a dynamic organization of
125. 7:05psychopysical systems and the word
126. 7:09dynamic itself refers to the fact that
127. 7:16personality can be changed. It is not a
128. 7:19static entity which is simply acquired
129. 7:23or it is simply uh you know adopted
130. 7:27or gained from our ancestors because of
131. 7:31the gene pools and we cannot do anything
132. 7:34to change it. No, it's not the matter.
133. 7:37It can be reasonably modified. That is
134. 7:40the word dynamic refers to. So one has
135. 7:44to believe in one's own ability to
136. 7:47modify the aspects of personality which
137. 7:51are causing continuous problems for us
138. 7:55and for others around us. But if a
139. 7:59person fails to see the problem as a
140. 8:01problem, if a person starts re
141. 8:05perceiving or thinking that it is okay,
142. 8:08it is just a part of my personality. I
143. 8:10did that and it's okay. this is going to
144. 8:13be there forever. Other people should
145. 8:15adjust with me. They should not complain
146. 8:18about what I do sometimes. Then the
147. 8:22person will never be able to work on his
148. 8:25own shortcomings. So first a thorough
149. 8:28self appraisal is required. One should
150. 8:31retrieve the characteristics aspects of
151. 8:34one's personality and then one must be
152. 8:38ready to change. One must see the
153. 8:40problem as a problem and have a faith in
154. 8:43his or her capacity to work on the
155. 8:47significant aspects of it. Finally, we
156. 8:51can design an intervention program,
157. 8:54implement it. We can repeat certain
158. 8:57practices to overcome the specific
159. 9:01characteristics of type A personalities
160. 9:04and review the changes periodically.
161. 9:08If the strategies adopted by us are not
162. 9:12working properly, we can think of some
163. 9:16new innovative strategies to try instead
164. 9:21of sticking to the same old methods even
165. 9:24if they are not giving us good results.
166. 9:27One very important thing that can be
167. 9:30done is mindfulness training and
168. 9:33relaxation training. Yog and meditation
169. 9:37can also help a lot because all these
170. 9:41mechanisms relax the system which help
171. 9:45in overcoming the trait hostility and
172. 9:47aggressiveness also the time urgency
173. 9:51which is present typically in people
174. 9:55having type A personality. If we talk
175. 9:58about managing type B personality, you
176. 10:00must remember that unlike type A
177. 10:03personality people, they are easygoing
178. 10:06uh people. They are ambitious but they
179. 10:10want to carry on their ambitions on
180. 10:14their own pace. They do not believe in
181. 10:17intense competitions rather they
182. 10:19collaborate with people. They are
183. 10:21accommodative.
184. 10:22So the main problem with such people is
185. 10:27procrastination or poor time management.
186. 10:30This is the main segment where they need
187. 10:32to work upon because this can cause
188. 10:36significant stress if their important
189. 10:39assignments are pending and they create
190. 10:42a time pressure on them. What they can
191. 10:46do? They should start
192. 10:49enhancing their time management. try to
193. 10:53utilize their time more effectively.
194. 10:56Avoid procrastination
195. 10:58at all costs and display their strength
196. 11:04to formulate and achieve the ambitions
197. 11:08timely. Then comes personality type C.
198. 11:12Again they are similar to people with
199. 11:15type A personality in certain aspects
200. 11:19and they differ from them on the other
201. 11:22hand as well. The similarity between
202. 11:25type A and type C people lies in their
203. 11:28ambitions. They both of them are
204. 11:30achievementoriented. They want to u
205. 11:33accomplish their goals. But the main
206. 11:36difference lies in the fact that type C
207. 11:39people are relationship oriented. So
208. 11:42they can compromise with their goals and
209. 11:45accomplishments in order to maintain the
210. 11:48social relationship. They are basically
211. 11:50people pleasing uh people. Okay. So they
212. 11:54are persons who have people pleasing
213. 11:57tendency.
214. 11:59So what happens that sometimes they
215. 12:01cannot express their real emotions
216. 12:03because they do not want to displease
217. 12:06others. So they keep their emotions with
218. 12:09them. They try to suppress them. They
219. 12:12try to repress them because the problems
220. 12:15are very uh the emotions are very
221. 12:17unpleasant. They are causing intense
222. 12:19pain to those individuals. So the only
223. 12:23solution they that comes to their mind
224. 12:26is to suppress them. What can they do
225. 12:29instead of suppressing or repressing
226. 12:31emotion?
227. 12:33they can focus upon the process of doing
228. 12:36something instead of simply focusing on
229. 12:39the outcome. So even if they are not
230. 12:42able to achieve the final goal, they can
231. 12:46be satisfied by the fact that they have
232. 12:48put their 100% effort in doing
233. 12:50something. They can make a structured
234. 12:55environment and maintain it where all
235. 12:57the systems are in their usual place.
236. 13:01They should establish a routine for
237. 13:03gaining stability in their daily life.
238. 13:07They should collaborate selectively
239. 13:10instead of collaborating with everyone
240. 13:12who comes to them with this purpose
241. 13:16because having a very large group of
242. 13:18people or collaborators will create much
243. 13:21more difficulties for them. They will
244. 13:23try to make everybody happy which is
245. 13:27practically not possible. And if they
246. 13:29try to do so, they are going to make
247. 13:32compromises in their work life then they
248. 13:36should be ready to indulge in difficult
249. 13:40conversations instead of avoiding them.
250. 13:43Here difficult conversations means
251. 13:47talking upon an issue which is
252. 13:50conflicting
253. 13:51where they differ from other people
254. 13:55where their own priorities their own
255. 13:58value system their own wants their own
256. 14:00desires are in direct contrast with
257. 14:05those
258. 14:06surrounding them. So instead of giving
259. 14:09them instead of yielding to group
260. 14:11pressure all the time they should be
261. 14:14ready to indulge in difficult
262. 14:16conversation and they must try to uh
263. 14:20convince other people
264. 14:23regarding what they want regarding their
265. 14:25point of view regarding what they need
266. 14:28from them. Practicing mindfulness and
267. 14:31meditation is again helpful.
268. 14:35Their mistakes should be taken as
269. 14:37learning opportunities instead of
270. 14:40something for which they should feel
271. 14:42guilty.
272. 14:44Self-care activities must be prioritized
273. 14:48and they should set clear boundaries to
274. 14:51prioritize their own well-being. Now we
275. 14:55will talk about certain practices which
276. 14:58are of use for everyone. No matter what
277. 15:03kind of personality type a person has or
278. 15:06what kind of demographic or
279. 15:08psychological factors they have. These
280. 15:12strategies are useful and helpful for
281. 15:15managing a stress and to increase the
282. 15:18tolerance of a stress for everybody. The
283. 15:22first of it is cognitive reappraisal of
284. 15:26situation. So re-examining the stressor
285. 15:29in a more positive way.
286. 15:33Perceiving
287. 15:35difficulties as opportunities to grow to
288. 15:38showcase one's own talent or a means to
289. 15:44uh explore one's potentials
290. 15:47can be a useful way to reduce the
291. 15:50stress. If a student perceives
292. 15:54examination as something threatening,
293. 15:57his or her behavior response towards it
294. 16:00would be different from a student who
295. 16:04perceives it as a step to move to
296. 16:07another higher level of academics. You
297. 16:10know, so reappraisal is always desirable
298. 16:14and it is always helpful. We have
299. 16:16already talked about seeking social
300. 16:19support which is very essential
301. 16:22especially in people coming from
302. 16:24collectivistic societies. So wherever
303. 16:27the group ties are strong and uh the
304. 16:31society the group is more important than
305. 16:34individuals,
306. 16:36one can always look towards significant
307. 16:40others in life for help, practical
308. 16:44assistance and advice.
309. 16:47We can also share our emotions, our
310. 16:50thoughts, our opinions, attitudes and
311. 16:53views about a particular thing.
312. 16:56and discuss about the accuracy of all
313. 17:00these things. If we find that our own
314. 17:03perception, our own emotions are somehow
315. 17:06inaccurate, we can correct it or we can
316. 17:10take the help of other people in
317. 17:12rectifying those values, perceptions,
318. 17:15emotions or anything like that maybe an
319. 17:18attitude.
320. 17:20So finally as Mahatma Gandhi said be
321. 17:24congruent, be authentic and be yourself
322. 17:29is the mantra to keep the stress low and
323. 17:35increase the tolerance towards it. Let's
324. 17:38have a quick recap of what we have
325. 17:40learned in this lecture.
326. 17:43Low stress tolerance can lead to
327. 17:45impaired performance, mental health
328. 17:47issues and physical health problems.
329. 17:51Managing different types of
330. 17:53personalities
331. 17:56can include different kind of
332. 17:58strategies. So if a person has type A
333. 18:01personality, there may be different
334. 18:04strategies that can work for him as
335. 18:06compared to a person with personality
336. 18:09type B or C. We have already gone
337. 18:12through the specific strategies that can
338. 18:15be suggested to people having different
339. 18:18personality types. And finally, we
340. 18:21learned about certain non-specific
341. 18:25general techniques which can help us
342. 18:28reducing stress. So that's all for this
343. 18:32lecture. As always, here are the
344. 18:34references and the recommended readings
345. 18:37to enhance your knowledge. Thank you so
346. 18:40much for your patient listening.