Stress management

Abstract

Stress is a serious problem for many adolescents, and they react to it in different ways. The present chapter highlights the various sources of stress in adolescents, identifying its signs, the impact of stress and stress management techniques. A detailed account of the types of stress, prevalence of stress and stress and stress-related problems among Indian adolescents, the different sources of stress, the physiological responses to stressors and progress through various stages is presented. The various physical, psychological, emotional and social signs of stress in adolescents have been highlighted for purpose of identification. Examples of commonly occurring thoughts in stress have been provided. It is a usual tendency to ignore the presence of stress and acknowledge it as a problem worth concern. Hence, the implications of stress when it is left untreated have been provided in detail. The various coping styles commonly used by adolescents for handling stress, providing a detailed account of effective coping strategies that can be used to build resilience and combat stress are discussed. Various strategies for assessing stress using interviews, self-reports and structured tools have been provided. Finally, different management strategies that are effective in managing stress have been provided. Case vignettes have been provided to facilitate a practical understanding of how to assess and manage stress citing various examples from the cases.