Mental health articles

Stress Management in Groups Th ere is obvious value to doing stress management in group settings. Since students can learn progressive muscular relaxation training as readily in a group of 10 as in an individual session, the investment in staff time is signifi – cantly reduced. Moreover, the opportunity for students to helpfully share the experiences that they fi nd stressful lets them discover the idiosyncracies of certain stresses and the commonality of others. Th e number of group sessions varies across campuses, but a range of four to six seems most common. Quieting Refl ex Th e time commitment in the various stress-management strategies is actually fairly minimal. Yet, if these techniques seem too time consuming, the briefest stress-management strategy may be encouraged, Charles Stroebel’s (1982) quieting refl ex. Th is procedure takes literally 6 seconds—less time than it does to explain it. You simply inhale an easy, natural breath; think “alert mind, calm body”; smile inwardly; exhale, allowing the muscles through your face and shoulders to go loose; and, fi nally, attend to the resultant feelings of warmth and looseness throughout your body. Oft en clients are so impressed with this quick exercise that they become receptive to more extensive methods.

Tags: stress