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Stress: What It Is, How to Beat It
GUIDED IMAGERY FOR STRESS
December, 2005
Prevalence and Costs
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) estimated that, 75-90% of office visits to primary care physicians are stress-related. Stress reduction is important because stress has been linked to every major cause of death in this country. A Gallup Poll reported that 80% of Americans feel stress on their jobs, and almost half of these workers reported that they needed training to manage their stress.
Stress-related absenteeism results in over 1,000,000 workers absent on an average day, with 550 million lost workdays annually.1 Stress-related workers' compensation claims and awards have skyrocketed. In California in 1987, the cost for workers' compensation medical and legal fees alone neared $1 billion.1 In 1988, the direct and indirect costs of job stress to the country's economy were $50 billion
What Is Stress?
People experience stress when the demands on them exceed their perceived capacity to cope. Stress can affect every major organ and body system. It can cause or worsen many conditions, among them immune system suppression, arthritis, gastrointestinal disorders, addictions, diabetes, chronic pain, sleep disorders, angina, hypertension, PTSD, eating disorders, and cancer.
Medical Treatment
While some patients visit doctors complaining of stress, more often they complain of digestive trouble, pain, insomnia, fatigue, or other stress-related symptoms. Medical treatment consists mainly of anxiety medications and antidepressants. Primary stress management is usually left to mental health professionals, but the need for more crossover is apparent. As one team of researchers stated, "The existence of pathways and regulatory mechanisms common to the regulation of both physical and emotional states transcend classical categorical disease classifications."
Non-pharmacologic Treatment
The more that is learned about the physical mechanisms of stress, the more apparent is the mind-body connection. Stress-management programs using behavioral and mind/body approaches have found wide favor. Exercise, biofeedback, muscle relaxation, and psychotherapy have all been found useful.
Guided imagery -- combining deep relaxation and positive suggestion -- is a powerful stress management technique. Eight studies conducted between 1983- 1995 reported on groups of surgical, cardiac, and cancer patients, smokers, and others reporting high stress levels. After guided imagery sessions, they had significantly less self-reported stress; physiological measures of stress, and anxiety when compared to control groups. Effects were stronger when patients could practice on their own.
Results of a review of studies showed that relaxation, hypnosis, and imagery can protect the immune system against the effects of stress; hypnosis was even more effective when “targeted imagery” was used. Hypnosis is often used to good effect in combination with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for acute stress disorders and PTSD.7, Other mind-body approaches have also yielded impressive results. In a study of geriatric congestive heart failure patients, CBT lowered perceived stress, anxiety, and other measurements.
Several studies of various forms of meditation (mindfulness, transcendental, yoga) showed significant improvement over the control groups. , , , , , In the Reibel et al. study, the reduction in distress and physical symptoms in the meditation group was particularly impressive. A mindfulness meditation program was also beneficial for caregivers; nurses reported greater well-being and coping skills; scores showed "significantly reduced" anxiety, and "favorable downward trends" in personal distress and fantasy.
Stress management programs incorporating imagery and relaxation are also cost effective. One company saved almost $150,000 in worker’s compensation costs, while the cost of the program itself was a mere $150 per person. Relaxation tapes are also a low-cost way to relieve stress; an at-home relaxation audio program was as effective as massage in decreasing subjects’ stress and improving their sleep.
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Posted in Health Issues Stress & Anxiety