Because Mrs. A has very low-self-esteem, which is a core identity issue, essential to personal validation and our ability to experience joy, will cause her to feel bad about herself because she has absorbed negative messages constantly from her husband. Due to her low-self-esteem, Mrs A will also feel depressed, stressed and suffer anxiety, causing her physical health to deteriorate rapidly. Many times women with this problem don’t go for regular check-ups, exercise, or take personal days because they really don’t think they’re worth the time.
Due to the marital breakdown that Mrs A has gone through, her needs have not been met by her partner because she will feel she does not deserve to have them met, and her relationship with her son has suffered, being unable to discipline effectively, set limits, or demand the respect that she deserves. This results from demands and pressures of recent past and anticipated demands and pressures of the near future. Most people recognise the signs of acute stress. They appear when something major happens like moving, changing jobs, or experiencing a loss.
Too much short-term stress can produce physical and emotional symptoms. Daily naggings from a spouse or irritating noises can also make you feel stressed, but because it is short term, acute stress doesn’t have enough time to do the extensive damage associated with long term stress. If you endure acute stress frequently, you probably are experiencing episodic stress. You are always rushing, always late and if something goes wrong it is a major thing. You are always trying to do too much and you can’t organise the tangle of self-inflicted demands clamouring for your attention.
Chronic Stress The grinding stress that wears people down day after day and year after year is chronic stress, which can destroy bodies, minds and lives. If you are experiencing chronic stress, you cant figure out how to alleviate a miserable situation that seems to go on for an interminable period of time. Identifying unrelieved stress and being aware of its affect on our lives is not sufficient for reducing its harmful effects. Just as there are many sources of stress, there are many possibilities for its management, however all require work toward change.
Changing the source of stress or changing your reaction to it. Mrs A must become aware of her stressors and her emotional and physical reactions. She must notice her distress, and not ignore it. Mrs A must learn not to gloss over her problems and determine how her body responds to the stress. Mrs A must ask herself, “Do I become nervous or physically upset”, if so in what specific ways. Mrs A must recognise what she can change by avoiding or eliminating them completely.
Will she be able to reduce their intensity (manage them over a period of time instead of on a daily or weekly basis). Mrs A must learn to shorten her exposure to stress, take a break, leave the physical premises, and devote her time and energy to making a change (goal setting, time management techniques, and delayed gratification strategies will be very helpful). Mrs A must reduce the intensity of her emotional reactions to stress, as the stress reaction is triggered by her perception of danger-physical danger or emotional danger.
Mrs A is obviously viewing her stressors in exaggerated terms or taking a difficult situation and making it a disaster, by this, she is expecting to please everyone. Because Mrs A is so stressed, she is overacting and viewing things as absolutely critical and urgent and feels she must prevail in every situation. Mrs A must work at adopting more moderate views, and try to see the stress as something she can cope with rather than something that overpowers her and must try to temper her excess emotions and put the situation in perspective, and not labour on the negative aspects and “what if’s”.
Mrs A must learn to moderate her physical reactions to stress, by slow, deep breathing to bring her heart rate and respiration back to normal. Relaxation techniques can reduce her muscle tension, heart rate, and blood pressure. Medications, if prescribed by her doctor, can help in the short term in moderating her physical reactions, however, they alone are not the answer. Mrs A must learn to moderate these reactions on her own which can be a preferable long-term solution.
Mrs A must build on her physical reserves, exercise for cardiovascular fitness three or four times a week (moderate prolonged rhythmic exercise is best, such as walking, swimming, cycling or jogging). By eating well balanced nutritious meals and maintaining her ideal weight may also help. Mrs A must try to avoid nicotine, excessive caffeine and other stimulants, mix leisure with work and take breaks and get away when ever she can. I t will also help Mrs A if she could get enough sleep and be as consistent with her sleep schedule as possible.
Mrs A must maintain her emotional reserves and develop some mutually supportive friendships/relationships. She must also pursue any realistic goals which are meaningful to her, rather than goals others have for her that she does not wish to share. ; Mrs A will have to expect some frustrations, failures and sorrows, but she mustThe humanistic perspective is mostly widely known as the phenomenological approach to personality. The Humanistic approach stresses the persons capacity for personal growth, freedom to choose one’s own destiny and positive qualities.