Since we have all been victims to stress at work, it’s very important for us to learn about it so that we fight it....
HEALTHWISE
A lot of us fantasize what working at an organisation would look like: fast-paced, exciting, and a friendly team culture. In these moments, we tend to overlook factors like long hours, tight deadlines, and non-accommodating environment. Everyone reacts differently to stress. Some might have breathing issues or some might struggle with sleeping. Some may fidget, bite nails, become short-tempered, or turn to substance abuse like alcohol, cigarettes, etc.
Since we have all been victims to stress at work, it’s very important for us to learn about it so that we fight it.
Stress is when our ability to cope with a situation is challenged by our surroundings. What we need to realize is stress is not always bad; in fact, sometimes it helps us stay focused and energetic to meet new challenges at work. However, in today’s fast-paced environment, the workplace is an emotional roller coaster with long hours, tight deadlines, and ever increasing demands from the boss, which leaves us feeling worried, drained, and overwhelmed. When it exceeds our coping ability, stress not only starts causing damage to our mind and body, but our job satisfaction as well.
The visible symptoms include lack of concentration, irritability, negative thinking, sleep, lack of motivation, change in appetite, and social withdrawal. Other symptoms can be headaches, high blood pressure, skin disorders, diabetes, and muscular tension.
The term stress management often refers to the wide spectrum of approaches and therapies aimed at controlling an individual’s levels of stress, especially chronic stress, for the purpose of improving their everyday functioning.
When our quality of life suffers due to stress, counselling can help us feel better. When we frequently counter stress with anxiety, fear, anger or depression, most of the time is spent exploring these initial reactions as part of the process.
Counselling is the provision of professional assistance and guidance in resolving personal or psychological conflicts. Unlike the usual physician model, counselling is less directive where counsellors serve as ‘skilled listeners’ rather than just informing or giving advice.
Stress management counselling emphasizes the importance of understanding and thereby gaining control of sources of stress. Blind spots, inner conflicts and unresolved trauma provide life’s stressors with opportunities to slowly take hold and grow beyond the person’s ability to cope with them.
The need for counselling occurs from a wide range of work/personal problems, which include stress. When you notice such problems lingering for a long time, you should go for counselling. Most issues that require counselling have an emotional content attached to it. Emotions are very much part of our normal life and it is the feelings that make people human. However, due to our impulsive nature emotions often get out of control and cause us to do things which are harmful to our interests.
The general objective of counselling is to help individuals gain self-confidence and self-control, and become efficient at work. This can be achieved through one or more of the following:
The giving of advice requires a counsellor to make judgements about an individual’s problems and to lay out a course of action.
A counsellor’s job is to provide individuals with reassurance, which is a way of giving them courage to face a problem and pursue the right course of action.
Through proper communication we can improve both upward and downward communication. In an upward direction, it is crucial for an individual to express feelings to their supervisor or the management. With downward communication, a counsellor can help interpret company activities to employees as they discuss relevant problems with them.
The most important function of counselling is the release of emotional tension sometimes referred to as ‘emotional catharses’. People tend to get a relief from their frustrations and other problems whenever they get an opportunity to tell someone about them. You will also find them more relaxed and their speech is more coherent and rational after a counselling session.
A clarified thinking tends to be a normal result of emotional release but a seasoned counsellor can aid this process by encouraging an individual to accept responsibility for emotional worries and to be more realistic in solving them.
Reorientation involves a change in an individual’s basic goals and values. The supervisor is responsible to identify those in need of reorientation so that they can be referred to professional help before it’s too late.
