In 21st century America, the saying that "all work and no game" makes a person boring should probably be changed to make it a stressed person.
There is a certain amount of stress in every job, and it is normal for work demands and pressure to subside. When tension rises above normal levels or becomes reality over a long period of time, work-related stress can dramatically affect individuals' personal lives as well as mental, emotional, and physical health. Trying to deal with friction with a colleague or supervisor, making an unwanted change in role or responsibilities, or being forced to find your way around in a toxic work environment, possibly including bullying or employee harassment, can lead to stress in a person's life and stay there even after the workday (or workweek) is over. Today's technology tools – however wonderful they may be – often add to ongoing stress as they tend to drive 24/7 connectivity overload and expectations. Work emails don't usually stick to a 9-to-5 schedule, and smartphones, laptops, and WiFi connections don't either.
Professional clinical advisers, regardless of their environment or specialty, can determine in various ways that work stress manifests itself in the life of the client. Some customers may complain of sleep disorders or physical pain. Others might mention that they think about work problems when they are not up to date, associate their self-esteem with professional success, feel guilty when they take time off, are afraid of losing a job, or even mentally or Feel emotionally exhausted if you only think about your professional responsibility or work environment.
Work-related stress "can take some of our joy away," says Michele Kielty, licensed professional advisor (LPC) and licensed school advisor in Virginia. "We can be so overwhelmed with responsibilities that we feel a lack of joy in things that we previously enjoyed. … It is associated with an omnipresent, inferior, oppressive stress all the time. Your life can do more take over as you want. "
Simply put, work stress keeps us from being the person we want to be, says Kielty, a professor of counseling and director of school counseling at James Madison University (JMU) in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
To make matters worse, some customers, who recognize that work is the main cause of their stress, are embarrassed that a job can have this effect and control over them.
"The painful thing is that there can be a lot of regret, guilt, and occasionally shame about losing your presence – not being able to be fully present when you are at home or near your children," says A. Renée Staton, LPC and professor in the advisory program of the JMU. "Parents may report [in counseling] that their work stress may not be at the forefront of their thinking, but they find that they are more reactive and impatient with their children. It may be more difficult to keep things in context when they are on their children react. "
A major source of stress
A majority of American adults (64%) identified work as a significant source of personal information in the American Psychological Association's annual Stress in America survey, which collected data from more than 3,000 adults between August and September 2019 Stress Xer, money and work were the most frequently mentioned sources of stress (with 65% each). Among millennials, money (72%) hardly displaced work (71%) as the most frequently cited stressor. Work was the second most cited source of stress for baby boomers (with health concerns), while Generation Z or the post-millennium generation identified work as the third largest source of stress (after money and health problems).
The American Institute of Stress, a Texas-based nonprofit organization, notes that work and careers for Americans are the primary cause of stress and can be associated with hypertension, increased risk of heart attack, and other medical problems ,
"Although the institute is often asked to compile lists of the" most "and" least "stressful professions, such rankings are of little importance for several reasons," says the organization's website (stress .org). “It is not the job that matters, but the person and the environment. … Stress is a highly personalized phenomenon and, for different reasons, can be very different even in identical situations. A survey found that doing paperwork was more stressful for many police officers than the dangers of persecuting criminals. The severity of the work stress depends on the size of the requirements and the feeling of control or freedom of decision that the individual has in dealing with them. Scientific studies based on this model confirm that workers who feel they are exposed to high demands but have little control have an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. "
Dissatisfied, separated, underestimated
The term "work stress" can have different meanings for each individual client, and a consultant's response should be tailored to each client's situation. However, Sharon Givens, a private practice LPC that specializes in career development and mental health, has found some common issues in her work with clients. She says that dissatisfaction and stress for individuals can increase if they:
You have a job or role that you consider unfulfilled or that you dislike.
Having problems with leadership (e.g. thinking that they have a bad boss, do not feel respected or valued, have a personality or a conflict of values with a manager or company management)
Believe that they are not receiving adequate financial compensation
Works that do not meet their needs, such as B. Personality Style, Passion, or Interests
This last point can make all the difference, claims Givens, elected president of the National Career Development Association, a division of the American Counseling Association. At the end of the day, a job only fits well if what it offers meets individual needs. For example, a person who appreciates teamwork and struggles to work independently will never thrive in a position where they work all day alone from home, says Givens, whose practice has offices in Columbia, South Carolina, and Charlotte, North Carolina, has.
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Research shows that many workers leave their jobs because of the question of whether they connect with their employees. Stress and misfortune will naturally increase if an employee doesn't like the work or the people they work with – even if the employee is well compensated, Givens adds.
Jennifer Linnekaste, an LPC with a practice in Oslo, Norway, specializes in career counseling and client support for work-related trauma. She says consultants should consider additional questions when clients, regardless of their current problem, spend a large part of the sessions discussing or complaining about negative problems at work. Practitioners can get a broader picture by asking clients when they feel overly stressed, whether with a change in leadership or supervision at work, a new job role or responsibilities, a traumatic incident at work, or another Work collapsed. related circumstances.
Work stress occurs in a continuum, and "whether someone can deal with this stress or not is entirely in the client's perception," added Linnekaste, who is writing a book on work trauma to be published by ACA.
Possible indicators
When work stress exceeds, personal relationships often suffer from the effects. This is because work stress often deprives people of their ability to deal with the people they love and to be fully available to them, says Kielty.
Givens, an ACA member, has found that stress at work puts such a strain on clients' marital relationships that they are on the verge of divorce. Carrying constant feelings of stress around can result in the person becoming less patient, more irritable and more likely to be snappy with their significant other and their relatives or to strike at them, which leads to conflicting relationships. Or a couple can distance themselves if a person who feels overwhelmed by work shuts down and does not want to pass on their needs and stress factors to a partner, emphasizes Givens.
Consultants should not only look for possible red flags in the personal relationships of customers, but also for other indications that work stress could manifest in the life of customers, says Givens, including:
Showing fearful behavior, including feeling paranoid that they are being fired
I spend a lot of time talking about financial concerns.
Expression of a lack of commitment to their work, a desire to take excessive time or do what is necessary to get through
Expressing lack of fulfillment or using language that indicates that they simply tolerate their work
They express that they feel stuck, too old or too rooted to try something new, or think about early retirement.
To say that they do not enjoy, do not deal with, or trust their employees
Feeling of lack of control or power over their work situation, feeling like a victim or being overlooked when making corporate decisions
Work stress can also be to blame when clients talk about physical symptoms such as headache, high blood pressure, weight gain or loss or sleep disorders.
Fatigue can be another indicator that work pressure is overwhelming a customer, says Quentin Hunter, an LPC employee in Kentucky, who wrote the Journal of Counseling & Development (JCD ) from September 2019 – pressure, career with high demand. “When clients talk about chronic fatigue, feel completely exhausted when they arrive, can't turn off their“ work brains, ”or think about work assignments when watching TV or having dinner with their family, counselors should ask questions to learn more. "People often know that they are exhausted from their job and that it affects them, but not that it is inappropriate," notes Hunter, who works in a private group practice in a rural setting.
Amanda M. Evans, LPC and co-author of a 2013 JCD article entitled “Work-Life Balance for Men: Impact on Counseling,” notes that work stress can manifest itself in a way that affects customers' overall well-being, including a decrease in marriage satisfaction and sexual activity or inability to fully relax and pursue activities and hobbies they previously enjoyed.
"For me it would be important if a customer said things like" I just have to assert myself "or" If I lower my head [and work hard] it will be better, "says Evans, an assistant professor in the Department of University Psychology at JMU and director of the university's clinical mental health counseling program, "A counselor can remind you that this is not a requirement [to be unhappy at work] so we don't have to live our lives."
Evans, Kielty, and Staton found that work stress is often a problem associated with other mental health issues that they collaborate with at JMU, including their recent research on bicultural identity that the trio based on Let the voices be heard! Conference in Belfast, Northern Ireland, last October. (The conference, which is known as the "international discussion on counseling, psychotherapy and social justice", was jointly planned by ACA, the UK Association for Counseling and Psychotherapy and the Irish Association for Counseling and Psychotherapy.) Evans and Staton will also discuss the Work discussing stress as part of a poster session on institutional discrimination at the ACA 2020 Conference & Expo in San Diego in April.
Recognizing the roots of advice
Consultants can view clients who call work stress their presenting problem. This is often the case with Givens, which receives many of its customers through recommendations from employee benefit programs. However, other clients could sign up for advice on a marriage in trouble or coping with depression without realizing that work stress is inextricably linked to their current problem, says Givens.
"Work is such a large area of our lives and plays such an important role in influencing our mental health," explains Givens. "You can't address one without the other."
In other situations, Kielty said, clients might come to work stress counseling because it feels like a "safer", less stigmatized, or less embarrassing problem than what lies beneath it, such as: B. Marriage problems or violence in the partnership. In other words, for certain clients, work stress can be a more acceptable way to enter the counseling relationship.
According to Givens, career counselors and mental health counselors should not hesitate to refer clients to each other or treat clients who need to focus on both areas of life.
Many of the consultants interviewed for this article indicated that the basis of the counseling profession lies in career counseling and say that professional clinical counselors should not hesitate to lean on the professional roots of the profession.
"Remember that work and career are an integral part of almost everyone's life, so we have to spend some time exploring them," said Hunter, ACA member and assistant professor at Lindsey Wilson College, Columbia, Kentucky. "If you ask," What is your job like? "And they say," Great, "don't just accept that and go on … A customer doesn't necessarily have to say," I know my job is stressful "or" I hate my job, "but it still consumes a lot of energy and he doesn't effectively feel you for the area he came in. "
Encouraging self-reflection
Discovering the extent to which work stress affects a client's mental health can be an eye opening for both the counselor and the client. Hunter says he often starts by asking customers to think about where much of their energy is going. "We only have so much personal energy every day," he explains to the customer. "How much of it flows into your work, family and individual domain and what are the deficits? Where did you see that you were affected? … Work can affect all areas of well-being, [including] sleep disorders, spirituality, intimacy with a partner, energy levels. How much of your life is involved in work? "
Hunter often instructs customers to consider their day a cake, with each piece indicating a domain in which to invest their energy. Then he asks her to consider how it looks and feels. Is work the biggest piece? The whole cake? Do you agree with how your cake is divided? Does it cause you stress?
Another exercise that Hunter finds helpful is that customers create a prioritized list of their values and the things they consider important in life. Most customers put family and relationships at the top of their list and keep the work down. From there, Hunter spends a lot of time talking to customers about the priority they assign to different aspects of their lives and where things may be out of sync when they consume most of their energy. For example, if work is number 5 on their list of things they value, how much energy do they use? If your marriage or relationship with your children is the first thing on your list, does that part of your life really get most of your attention and energy?
Staton agrees that researching values can be an important part of advising clients who struggle with work stress. Consultants can help clients identify when their work is not in line with their personal values, determine what is important to them to feel “fulfilled without exaggerating”, and learn when to say no and change have to do if their situation doesn't match "what they really want" in their hearts, "Staton says.
Kielty, a former president of the Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling, a division of ACA, suggests that counselors help clients create a list of values and goals based on what they identify Create peak values. For customers who value autonomy, a suitable goal could be to uninstall business email apps from their smartphones so that they cannot be contacted – and are not tempted to engage in work – if they are not there are clocks on the Internet. Customers who value flexibility might consider requesting a change in their work schedule for four 10-hour shifts per week, so that a weekday remains free for excursions with their child's school, grocery store, or self-catering Kielty before
These counseling exercises are all done with the goal of building clients' self-assessment and self-reflection skills, Hunter notes. One of the most important things that counselors can do to help clients with their work stress peaks is to step back to assess what their life should be like and how it should look in reality, he says.
Any type of contemplative practice – such as journaling or mindfulness – can help customers reflect, sharpen their confidence, and be honest with themselves, Hunter says. These skills are also important to mediate clients so that they can access them outside of counseling sessions, he adds.
"[Creating] This space to listen to yourself and evaluate yourself is a difficult habit, but so powerful," says Hunter. “Ultimately, they will leave therapy and have to prescribe their own goals. You must be able to assess your energy level and determine where [in which domains of life] they are important. "
It is important to support customers when they choose to leave a job and switch to a new role, but guidance from an advisor shouldn't end there, says Givens. "In many cases, work stress can be the symptom of something bigger, and it is our responsibility to research and ensure that we understand the root cause to help the person holistically, rather than from a professional or psychological perspective," she explains.
Givens remembers a client who originally came to her for career counseling. In his role as Executive Vice President, he was unhappy and "exhausted". As Givens' work with the client progressed, he also announced that he had moved away from his wife. The couple did not communicate well and their sex life was "non-existent" according to the client.
Further investigation and investigation showed that the customer did not click on a new boss who had recently started working for the customer's company, causing the customer to feel undervalued. In addition, Givens found that the client had never processed his parents' death (his mother had been dead for eight years and his father for 26 years) and showed signs of depression.
At this point, "the work material became secondary," recalls Givens. She introduced mourning and self-esteem techniques into her sessions, as well as cognitive behavior therapy. She worked with the client for about a year and a half, during which time his self-esteem and marital relationship began to strengthen and recover.
Approximately one year after their therapy relationship began, the client made the decision to leave his company and find a new position. He received three desirable offers and eventually took up a position as CEO – a life goal he always wanted to achieve, Givens recalls.
Leading Influences
When it comes to changing changes in a work situation or achieving a work-life balance, it is often customers who have the answers themselves, says Givens. The role of a consultant is to guide and support clients when they take a step back, use the answers already available and make decisions.
Givens had a client who came to her for career advice. The client was well paid, but she was also responsible for three different roles in her company: payroll, accounting, and human resources. "When we talked about it, she found that it wasn't fair to get a salary for three jobs," says Givens. "She didn't see it until she took a step back [in counseling] and realized," I could get the same amount for just one of these jobs! "Finally, she made the decision to leave."
Givens has a range of worksheets, questionnaires, and other tools that she uses in meetings with clients who struggle with work stress to encourage self-reflection and set goals. One of these tools is a puzzle with empty parts that can be labeled with a special marker and wiped off for reuse. Customers label the pieces of the puzzle with different aspects of their lives, including work, and then put them together in two different ways: as their "ideal" life puzzle and what their lives actually look like. After discussing things with her customers, Givens asks what they need to change – which pieces of the puzzle they need to move or remove entirely – so that the two puzzles are better matched.
Similarly, Givens uses a “life wheel” representation with clients so that they can rate different areas of their lives (finance, career, relationships, relaxation, etc.) on a scale of 1 to 10. This exercise provides both the counselor and the client have a better understanding of how clients see themselves and where they find fulfillment and not.
Givens has also created and used a flowchart-type document that she calls "gap analysis". The diagram contains two fields with a gap in the middle. She asks the customers to write a description of their life in the first box and to have ideas about the life they would like to have in the second box. The challenges and missing parts of the customers are written in the gap between the two fields. These challenges and missing parts could be getting a professional certification, attending additional training, or completing additional training to start a desired career, she notes. In each session, Givens works with the customer to set goals, address the challenges identified in the flowchart gap, and review progress.
“It could be that [a client] wants to become a plumber, but they need the right training. I would help them connect to it, ”says Givens. "Ultimately, we try to do the following: Get the customer where he wants to be and overcome whatever is in his way."
When clients feel overwhelmed by work stress, consultants can help them break an apparently insurmountable challenge into smaller pieces, says Evans, a member of ACA. She suggests practitioners provide clients with coping mechanisms, including self-care psycho-education, crossing borders, and mind-stopping techniques to navigate the here and now before making major decisions, such as: B. whether you leave a job or change your career completely.
Kielty notes that mindfulness and body scanning lessons can provide customers with helpful tools to manage their emotions at work when stress begins to overwhelm them. “Identify what triggers you and how you can create healthy spaces for yourself. Create a healthy space between you and your work, ”she advises.
Kielty, a member of ACA, often introduces the concept of "moments of mindfulness" when doing training at the workplace. Taking time to reset, even if it only takes a minute or two, can be an enormous coping mechanism for dealing with work stress, she says. Resetting can include closing the door to your own office and breathing deeply, a brisk walk, a quick body scan or an inventory of your sense of sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch. Mindfulness helps regulate stress hormones and heart rate, improves concentration, and increases self-compassion, says Kielty, who adds that mindfulness is an evidence-based way to "help build internal resources."
The ability to pause for a moment gives a person the choice, freedom of choice, and some options for dealing with stress rather than letting him control it, adds Staton, an ACA member.
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Hunter sometimes gives people who have difficulty separating their work and private lives a mantra that they can repeat every day when they leave work: “I'm done with work today. I leave work here in the parking lot. Everything that needs to be done at work can be done tomorrow (or when I return next). "This simple exercise can help clients reaffirm the notion that they are not their job and that work is only part of who they are," he says.
Consultants should be aware that some clients struggling with work stress may also be work dependent, Hunter emphasizes. As with any process or behavioral dependency (e.g. gambling, gaming, shopping), work can become an activity that gives a person a temporary "high" and serves as an escape to avoid other problems. Professionelle klinische Berater sollten genau auf Hinweise achten, dass Klienten Vermeidungsverhalten praktizieren – wie sich selbst in die Arbeit zu werfen, um Beziehungsprobleme oder psychische Gesundheitsprobleme zu vermeiden – oder eine Sprache verwenden, die auf Arbeitssucht hinweist, wie „Ich fühle mich nur gut, wenn ich bin auf der Arbeit “, rät Hunter.
Obwohl das Setzen von Zielen ein hilfreicher Teil der Unterstützung von Kunden durch Arbeitsstress sein kann, warnt Hunter, dass Berater vor der Verwendung des Ansatzes auf die Bedürfnisse und die Persönlichkeit des einzelnen Kunden eingehen müssen, da dies möglicherweise nicht für alle geeignet ist. Das Setzen von Maßstäben – wie das tägliche Verlassen der Arbeit um 5:30 Uhr, das Abendessen mit der Familie jeden Abend und das Lesen eines Buches zum Vergnügen – kann für Kunden hilfreich sein, die an Ordnung und objektiven Aufgaben interessiert sind, sagt er, aber es ist hilfreich kann zu Ängsten für andere Klienten führen.
„Das Setzen von Zielen kann ein guter Anfang sein, bis [finding work-life balance] natürlicher wird“, sagt Hunter. „Aber wenn wir Erwartungen setzen, müssen wir erkennen, dass sie Angst hervorrufen können. Ein Kunde kann sich mehr in die Arbeit stürzen, weil er nicht das Gefühl hat, seine Ziele zu erreichen, oder Angst hat, Ziele zu erreichen. Das größere Ziel sollte sein, zu wissen, wann die Vereinbarkeit von Beruf und Familie aus dem Gleichgewicht gerät und verschoben werden muss. “
Perspektive umdrehen
Ein wichtiger Faktor, der dazu beitragen kann, dass Kunden zögern, sich gegen unrealistische Arbeitsbelastungen zu wehren oder Schuldgefühle wegen einer Auszeit zu empfinden, sind laut Hunter kulturelle Nachrichten. Kunden können Schwierigkeiten haben, Arbeitsstress mit seinen schädlichen (physischen und mentalen) Auswirkungen gleichzusetzen, da die amerikanische Kultur betont, dass das Arbeiten und Unterstützen von sich selbst eine hoch geschätzte Eigenschaft ist.
„Als ich aufgewachsen bin, war es ein Kompliment, ein Workaholic zu sein“, sagt Hunter. „Berater können Befürworter sein [for the idea]dass Arbeit nicht das A und O ist und es in anderen Lebensbereichen Belohnungen geben kann. Wir können diejenigen sein, die dies als Kultur vorantreiben und in Frage stellen. … Während es gut für Menschen ist, eine Richtung in ihrer Karriere einzuschlagen und sich geschätzt zu fühlen, ist es wichtig, dies mit Familie und Leben außerhalb der Arbeit in Einklang zu bringen. “
Berater können in dieser Hinsicht Akteure des Wandels sein, betont Hunter, und Klienten dabei helfen, eine kognitive Veränderung vorzunehmen: Arbeit ist an sich nicht schlecht, kann jedoch zu einem Problem werden, wenn sie die geistige Gesundheit eines Menschen negativ beeinflusst und überläuft in ihr persönliches Leben. Dies gilt insbesondere, sagt Hunter, wenn man mit Kunden arbeitet, die mit Arbeitssucht zu kämpfen haben, die das Gefühl haben, dass alles auf ihren Schultern ruht, oder die Gefühle wie „Wenn ich diese Arbeit nicht mache, wer wird das tun?“
„Wenn es um die Vereinbarkeit von Beruf und Familie geht, ist es im Jahr 2020 in Amerika eine solche Herausforderung, Arbeit als Problem zu betrachten. Es ist schwer zu argumentieren, dass es falsch ist, hart zu arbeiten und Ihre Familie zu unterstützen “, bemerkt Hunter. "Ein Kunde kann sagen:" Ich mache alles richtig. Ich tue, was ich tun sollte, um Karriere zu machen und mich und meine Familie zu ernähren. “In Wirklichkeit geht es um Überarbeitung und darum, mich einer Karriere verpflichtet zu fühlen und andere Aspekte des Lebens zu opfern.“
„Oft wird eine Karriere so viel kosten, wie Sie geben werden“, fährt Hunter fort. "Wir leben in einer kapitalistischen Gesellschaft, und selbst eine gut gemeinte Organisation wird all die Arbeit akzeptieren, die Sie in sie stecken, und es ist Sache des Einzelnen, zu sagen, wann es ausreicht." Die Organisation wird es niemals tun. “
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Sharon Givens will present the session “Career development and mental health strategies” at the ACA 2020 Conference & Expo in San Diego in April. Find out more about Givens’ presentation and numerous other sessions on career-related topics at counseling.org/conference.
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Additional resources
Take advantage of the following select resources offered by the American Counseling Association:
Counseling Today (ct.counseling.org)
Books (counseling.org/publications/bookstore)
Coping Skills for a Stressful World by Michelle Muratori and Robert Haynes
Postmodern Career Counseling: A Handbook of Culture, Context and Cases, edited by Louis A. Busacca and Mark C. Rehfuss
Career Counseling: Holism, Diversity and Strengths, fourth edition, by Norman C. Gysbers, Mary J. Heppner and Joseph A. Johnston
ACA divisions
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Should I stay or should I go now?
What should a counselor’s role be when a client who is overwhelmed by work stress wants to throw in the towel and leave a job? Explore this issue in an online exclusive article at CT Online: https://wp.me/p2BxKN-5SZ
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Bethany Bray is a senior writer and social media coordinator for Counseling Today. Contact her at [email protected].
Letters to the editor: [email protected]
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Opinions expressed and statements made in articles appearing on CT Online should not be assumed to represent the opinions of the editors or policies of the American Counseling Association.
