How To Deal With Stress

How to Deal with Stress is written by two internationally recognised experts in the field by stress management. It provides stress-busting techniques and strategies to help you manage the causes of stress and its effects. Key topics include:

• self coaching
• enhancing performance and increasing resilience
• balancing pressure and stress
• changing stress-inducing behaviour
• improving confidence and self-acceptance
• dealing with anxiety about particular events or situations
• improving interpersonal and time-management skills
• finding support networks
• using exercise, nutrition and relaxation techniques
• managing and preventing work-related stress for you and your team.

How to Deal with Stress is crammed with invaluable tips and will put you in charge of your life.

About The Authors
Stephen Palmer, PhD, is one of the UK’s most influential experts on stress management. He is Founder-Director of the Centre for Stress Management and Honorary Professor of Psychology at City University, London.

Cary Cooper, PhD, CBE, is Professor of Organisational Psychology and Health at Lancaster University, President of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy, Chair of the Academy of Social Sciences.

Table Of Contents

• Introduction
• What is stress?
• Simple definition
• Pressure and stress
• Costs of stress
• How to you cope with stress?
• Are you in control?
• Health locus of control
• The biology of stress
• Summary
• A Working model of stress, coping and resilience
• A model of stress, coping and resilience
• Helpful versus unhelpful troublesome negative emotions
• Important: choice of interventions
• Summary
• Changing your thinking
• Changing your thinking: it isn’t a modern concept!
• As simple as ABC!
• Thinking errors
• Helpful challenging questions
• ‘Pros and cons’
• Stress thought record
• Dealing with your own anger
• Overcoming the self-esteem trap
• Accepting others but not their behaviour
• Inference chaining
• Summary
• Changing your imagery
• Coping imagery
• Self-motivation imagery
• Staying focused (or goal) imagery
• Time projection imagery
• Relaxation imagery
• Anti-craving imagery
• Summary
• Changing your behaviour
• What type are you, A or B?
• Social support
• Assertiveness training
• Assertiveness rights
• Assertivenes skills
• The three-step model of assertion
• Time management
• Top tips for the time manager
• Developing goals
• Summary
• Improving your physical health to help you conquer stress
• Alcohol
• Caffeine
• Exercise
• Nutrition
• Weight control
• Smoking
• Relaxation
• Summary
• Dealing with work-related stress
• Definition of stress
• The financial and health impact of work-related stress
• How do you cope with stress at work?
• The unfit manager
• The fit manager
• Work-related stress risk assessment and interventions
• Before you start a work-stress risk assessment
• A comprehensive approach
• What you can do?
• Summary
• Stress self-audit
• Developing your own action plan
• ‘Stress carriers’
• Home-work interface
• Action plan
• Sample stress management action plan
• Start now
• Summary
• Appendix
• References and bibliography
• Useful organisations