Dr. Eric Jensen (2009) wrote, “the biology of stress is simple in some ways and complex in others. On a basic level, every one of the 30 – 50 trillion cells in the human body is experiencing either healthy or unhealthy growth. Cells cannot grow and deteriorate at the same time. Ideally, the body is in homeostatic balance: a state in which the vital measures of human function – heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar, and so on – are in their optimal ranges. A stressor is anything that threatens to disrupt homeostasis – for example, criticism, neglect, social exclusion, lack of enrichment, malnutrition, drug use, exposure to toxins, abuse, or trauma. When cells are not growing, they are in a “hunker down” mode that conserves resources for a threatened future. When billions or trillions of cells are under siege in this manner, there will be problems” (Jensen, p, 23).
For this comment write a scenario about someone who is suffering with negative stress because of current active stressors. Writing a scenario means you are going to create a person. Name the person, describe the person (I want to be able to visualize the person in my mind).
How old is your person? Be specific and then be more specific. I want detail. Write about the person, his or her stressors, and how the stressors/stress is affecting his or her health.
As examples, what are the symptoms of stress for your person, how is stress effecting the body, what’s going on physiologically and psychologically, how are each of the six dimensions of health being affected. Finally, write a prescription for him or her for managing and reducing stress. Your prescription should include: what your person can do today, within the next two weeks, and how s/he can manage stress long term. I am looking forward to meeting your person!
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ReplyDeleteTeresa Robertson is 39 years old female. She has an 11 year old daughter Madison. Madison has a medical condition that requires her to go to the hospital several times a month. Teresa’s husband, of 9 years, left her a couple of years ago after he met a younger woman he worked with. Teresa makes $20,000 a year. Her ex husband pays very little child supports and is 6 months behind right now. Teresa misses work often being out with Madison. Her boss does not complain very much about her missing work, but she has to work late when she is there to make sure all of her work is done. Her boss does complain if she doesn’t make up missed time and her work is not kept up. Her parents live 300 miles away and are not in good health themselves.
Teresa is 5 foot 2 inches and overweight. She eats a lot of fast food due to the fact she is tired when she gets off and is at the hospital with Madison several days a month. She is too tired to exercise much but does walk some days when she gets off.
Teresa does not have very many friends that she does much with. Her family is 5 hours away. She has a couple of friends at work that she has over or goes to their house once or twice a month.
Teresa has times she can’t concentrate thinking about Madison’s health problems. She has times that she goes into her bedroom and cries to keep Madison from seeing her upset.
Teresa had a house built a couple of years ago. She has tile and hard wood floors put into the house to help with Madison’s allergies. Madison is on a waiting list for a heart lung transplant. Having a bad allergic reaction can put her back into the hospital. She had to have an ambulance come take her to the hospital. Having hard wood floors cuts down on the dust which helps her breathing.
Teresa sees her purpose in life is Madison. They go to church when Madison is doing well enough. They do avoid going out when there is high pollen counts. The church has has several fund raisers to help with some of Madison’s medical bills.
Teresa should try to eat healthier. Rather than fast food she should think of things that don’t take a long time to cook. Eat fruit instead of some of the snacks she eats. She should take more walks to get some much needed exercise and a mental release of some of her stress. She should talk to friends at work and church about her problems for a release of stress. Hopefully soon Madison will have her surgery so part of that problem will be less than it has been.
I would like to introduce you to my friend Shay Davis. Shay is a twenty-three year old woman, who I’ve been friends with for years. Shay has been married for four years, and has two children under the age of three. She’s about 5’ll, 138 pounds, and very physically active.
ReplyDeletePart-time she works as a teller at a local bank in her neighborhood. When she’s not working she’s taking care of her children, attending church, exercising regularly, and helping her younger sister with her homework in the afternoons.
Just recently, Shay went for a doctor’s visit and found out from her doctor that she was anemic. So I guess you are wondering how did a twenty-three year old woman in nice physical shape, and somewhat minimal stress end up with this disorder?
Here’s the story, at her part-time job at the bank it’s tax season, so business is really booming. This means her 30 minute lunch breaks are now quick lunch breaks, so the option of eating a decent meal during lunch is out of the question. Second, her sister who she’s been helping with homework after school is now taking on a hard subject that she struggled with in school, so Shay is trying to help understand the lesson so she can help her sister but its taking its toll on her. Lastly, at the end of the day she has a husband and two toddlers to take of and that alone is a huge responsibility so she’s been really putting her best foot forward. With all these things exercising had to become a distant resort.
Now the story has been told, as you can see Shay has not had the time to properly eat and cook a well balanced diet in the last couple of weeks. At work, she’s mostly been eating chips, cookies, and maybe a few chicken nuggets. At home, she has been a cooking easy five minute meal that doesn’t have a lot of vitamins and minerals needed for and active woman. Also, her specialized time to exercise has totally gone out of the window because she worn out after performing all of these tasks.
How did these things trigger her into having anemia? The answer is basically that her diet was very poor and lacked a lot of red meats and iron needed to help her function. Shay is psychologically drained from all the mental stress she has been dealing with at home and at work.
Her dimensions of health have been greatly interrupted: her social skills are not as casual, her physical health is lacking due to poor exercise now, and her emotional health is lacking because she hasn’t really been able to go out with her husband and friends because she’s been so tired.
As a prescription I would prescribe to Shay for today would be to take a day off, and just say, “No I need a break from all of this today so I can focus on myself and my health”. What she can do for the next two weeks is to try and find at least 10 minutes out of a day and devote it to exercising. By managing stress long term I would have make a schedule and try to follow it even if it gets a little altered still use it. You never know until you try.
Evelyn is 79. She’s shorter than she used to be due to osteoporosis. She has permed gray hair. She’s active and alert and her mind is good. She’s very sociable, but often misses what’s being said because she’s very hard of hearing and her hearing aid isn’t adequate. She hates her hearing aid, so she often doesn’t wear it at home, and sometimes forgets to wear it when she goes out. The main stressor for Evelyn is caregiver stress. Her husband, Earl, is 88. He has severe macular degeneration, so he can’t read or watch most TV shows. He can feed himself, but can’t see well enough to cut up his food. He can brush his teeth, but can’t put toothpaste on the toothbrush or floss on his own. He has post-polio syndrome, so his strength and balance are poor. He walks with a walker and sometimes needs help getting up from a chair. He can wash and dress himself, but needs someone to lay out his clothes and help put on his leg brace. All the daily tasks he can’t do for himself fall to Evelyn, in addition to all the things that go into maintaining a household. He isn’t shy about asking for help or quickly repeating his request if she doesn’t come right away, so she can’t do much for very long without being interrupted. She gave him a whistle so she could hear him if she’s in another room, but she often winces when she hears it or even when he calls her name. He is even more hard-of-hearing than she, so they often have trouble understanding each other. She gets annoyed when she has to repeat things for him, which is often. Yet she is very conscientious about doing everything she can to maintain his health. She would like to travel to visit family, but it’s too hard to take him on a long trip. However, he likes short rides and they both enjoy going to church.
ReplyDeleteEvelyn’s physical health is affected in two ways by stress. She takes medicine for high blood pressure; sometimes her heart races and her BP goes up if she’s feeling particularly stressed, probably a response to excess cortisol. She also gets vertigo attacks, which seem to be at least partly brought on by stress. When she gets a bad attack, she is unable to do much of anything. Although she is active, she doesn’t take time to exercise, which would help prevent further bone loss and help reduce her stress. Her social health is affected by not being able to socialize as much as she would like, but she does use telephone and email conversations, and sometimes takes Earl along to circle meetings or can leave him alone for a short time. She still grows some vegetables, so her environmental health is good. Emotionally, the thing that bothers her most is when Earl starts venting loudly about politics after listening to radio talk shows, and the fact that he does so even though she’s told him how much it upsets her. Her faith is a source of comfort for her, so her spiritual health has a positive impact on the other dimensions. Mentally, she doesn’t get as much stimulation as she would like. It’s hard for her to find time to read. Her sleep is often interrupted because Earl wakes up to use the bathroom a couple times a night, which probably detracts from her mental, emotional and physical health.
Evelyn would benefit from occasional respite care for Earl, but it’s hard to find care she can afford. She should take some time every day for herself to do something she enjoys, to exercise, and to nurture friendships. She could invite friends to her house more often so she doesn’t have to take Earl out in order to socialize. It would also help her socially, mentally, and emotionally if she (and Earl) could hear better, but new hearing aids are expensive, too. She could make sure Earl has everything he needs and ask him not to interrupt her for a specific period of time unless it’s a real emergency so she can spend some time in the garden or on the internet or sewing. She could go in another room when Earl starts to vent about the state of the world, or just try not to take it personally. She could try deep breathing or meditation to calm herself when she’s feeling stressed.
Amanda is a fifteen year old, freshman in high school. She is tall, overweight, with pale skin. She has a birth mark that covers the entire right side of her face. Since she entered middle school kids have teased her about the deformity on her face and this causes her to have low self-esteem. Amanda walks with her head hung low as she changes from class to class. Her long blonde hair dangles and covers the front of her face.
ReplyDeleteBecause Amanda does not feel accepted by her peers she is very careless about her personal appearance. She wears baggy clothing to hide her body figure and does not wash her hair in hopes that guys will not be attracted to her and won’t notice her at school. Back at home, Amanda’s parents are battling a divorce, but both of her parents still stay in the same home with her. Her sleep is disturbed some nights because her parents are up arguing and yelling to the top of their lungs.
Amanda is not concerned with her environment and does not get involved in the community. She is unable to socialize because she feels that everyone is judging her. She has no friends and when she is at home at night she thinks of suicide. She is unhappy with herself and feels like she can’t accomplish anything. She cries at night and whenever she starts crying she is unable to control her emotions. She puts holes in the walls of her bedroom because she gets really angry.
Because her stress level is very high she is unable to retain information in class and is failing her English class. Amanda has gained 50 pounds over a four month period causing her to be obese. Even though Amanda may feel it is the end of the world for her, there are options for her to gain control of her life and balance her stress.
Today Amanda can talk to someone about her suicidal thoughts, write in a journal about how she feels and try exercising whenever she gets mad. Over the next two weeks she can visit the school counselor and express her emotions and continue exercising for at least thirty minutes a day. Finally, to manage her stress long term she can figure out things that make her happy in life and start engaging in those activities. She can carry around her journal and write throughout the day, and as time progresses she should go back and read her journal to see if her stress level has decreased. If her stress has not decreased she should develop another goal for stress management.
Sara is a 30 year old hispanic wife of two children. Her children are ages 6 and 9. sara is overweight and works third shift at the hospital as a nurse. Sara lives in a nice neighbohood. Sara's husband victor was just layed off due to factor cuts and is is currently having no source of income. Victor and Sara's relationship is suffering. Victor stays out late drinking and Sara has started smoking to ease the stress. Sara is not getting any sleep. she gets off from the hospital and starts to get her children ready for school. Sara gets about 4 hours of sleep a day. Sara cooks meals for the children to eat at home but finds herself eating a lot of tv dinners. Sara's hair has started falling out and she is experienceing acne all over her body. Sara is stressed from working third shift at the hospital coming home to take care of her home and children and also stressed due to her downward spiraling relationship with victor. Stress is affecting Sara's physical, social, intellectual, emotional, enviromental, and spiritual health. Sara is overwieight, her hair is falling out and she has acne, sara's marriage is suffering and she is not spending time with her friends, She is foregetting things and often has to ask for help on easy tasks at work. She finds herself crying in the car and wanting to kill herself. She is smoking. And, she does not go to church anymore because she believes it is not use. Sara is experiencing stress and is not in a health state of mind. Sara should first start eating healthy because a healthy body yields a helthy mind if she starts eating healthy her hair will stopfalling out, her acne may disapper, and it will help with her obesity. she should start working out with other people. She and Victor should talk to other couples about their relationship issues and seek help with their alcohol and smoking addictions to stop. She should start getting more sleep at night to help with her forgetfulness.
ReplyDeleteMeet Ashley James, a forty-two year old male, ex-navy: six foot four, Caucasian, short salt and pepper hair, clean shaven, athletic build (though he could use a run or two). He is a high school teacher—kakis, braided belt, tucked in polo, laced loafers, and lanyard to boot. James is a typical middle class citizen. He lives in a suburb, owns his two car garage, two story house (i.e., has a mortgage), has two dogs, a hamster, and a stray cat he feeds. He’s been divorced twice. He pays child support for an eleven year old daughter who lives a state away that he only sees every other weekend and summers. James and his live in girlfriend of less than a year recently had a baby boy—she is half his age with no degree or job (she too has been divorced, once). Needless to say, James has negative stress and current active stressors in his life.
ReplyDeleteJames’ health is negatively affected by his stressors and the excessive stress in his life. He takes blood pressure medication daily. He is prone to bouts of depression and was prescribed anti-anxiety meds, but does not take them on a regular basis, if at all. James also experiences frequent episodes of erectile dysfunction, which makes for a less than stellar sex life and only increases his stress levels. Because of the newborn, James is no longer allowed to take his afternoon run. He comes straight home from work to dishes and diaper duty—his girlfriend likes the couch and cookies. What once was a lush growth of dark, luxurious locks is now a sparse, undercut widows’ peak and ever widening receding hair line. Even James’ ability to digest food properly has been compromised. He has been hospitalized twice in the last year due to his inflamed esophagus and inability to swallow. He also battles acid reflux and takes medication before and/or after every meal.
To better manage and reduce his stress, James will need to focus on each of the six health dimensions. Physically, James should start running again, regularly. Exercising well helps manage and reduces stress. James enjoys running, and personal down time will give him the opportunity to reflect and unwind. This will also help improve his intellectual health. Since all six dimensions are interrelated, running can positively impact James’ decision making abilities (or lack thereof). Committing to running once a day or at least three times a week for starters is a healthy stress managing practice James can employ today. Once James has reestablished exercising well, he should focus on proper eating and sleeping habits. Eating well and sleeping well help manage and reduce stress. This may take a few weeks considering there is a baby in the house. Responsibilities still exist; chores must be done. However, James should talk with his girlfriend about splitting said responsibilities, so that each of them can reduce and manage unnecessary stressors, like inadequate rest and poor nutrition. Talking with his partner will improve his emotional, social, and environmental health, too. Communication is ongoing and good, positive, productive, communication cannot be accomplished over night or even in a few weeks. Setting aside a time for them to talk daily about their frustrations, conflicts, and everyday hassles will positively impact them both, long term. Agreeing to see a therapist—separately, as a couple, and as a blended family—couldn’t hurt. As for James’ spiritual health, he should develop positive self-talk until he understands and believes that his relationships do not define him; his situation and circumstances do not determine what he has to offer—he is precious—there is no one like him, and what he has to give back to this earth, no one else can give!
My scenario consist of a character who's name is Jessica. She is short and slightly overwight for her height. She is an African American woman. She is 22 years old and is also a college student. She is very independent and also has two jobs. She works at a preschool to earn points for college labatory hours. She also works at Mcdonalds part-time. Jessica stressor include negative appraisal and low self-esteem. She never thinks she looks good. She never gets time for herself. She is often very tired, even if she goes to bed early. HSe is contantly in a bad mood. Her attitudes shifts quite quickly. This stressor effects her health in many ways. Her physical health suffers because she is always tired, she constantly eats burgers and fries because she eats at work.She never gets time to eat properly. Jessica's lack of sleep makes her very cranky. She never gets a chance to excercise. The six dimensions of health which includes mental,emotional, social, and spritual health have proven this. Her mental health because she sometimes breaks down into tears because of sadness and having an overwheming feeling. Socially she suffers because she lacks time for friends and family. Her spiritual health suffer because she has no time for things that some people find uplifting spiritually, like church. If I were to write a prescription for Jessica, I would tell her to take time for herself, even if its only a little while. Within the next two weeks I would encourage her to change her eatting habbits and work on getting more excercise. She should also get the right amount of sleep. To manage her stress long term I would suggest that she works less hours or quit one of the jobs so that she will have the time to focus on more things thats good for her health.
ReplyDeleteMeet Rachel. She likes to think of herself as an average, nineteen year old, college freshman. She’s very busy all of the time, but she assumes everyone else is also, so she doesn’t make a big deal about it.
ReplyDeleteRachel is a full time student. She has classes everyday from eight-thirty to twelve-thirty. On Tuesdays and Thursdays she babysits a two year old from one until five-thirty. She’s already working on trying to save up money for spring break, but she also needs to save for next semester’s textbooks. She’s been considering pledging to a sorority, because all her friends are in one and they won’t stop nagging her to join. She and her boyfriend hit a rough spot and here lately it seems like they get into an argument every day. She has a big Spanish test coming up and has been trying to study every chance she gets. But most nights, by the time she gets in a quick dinner it’s already eleven o’clock and she still has chores to do. Once she does get to bed, she often lays there for hours before she actually falls asleep worrying about her relationship, school work, and things she still has to do. Before she knows it, it’s six and her alarm is going off. To top it all off, lately she’s being feeling like she might be developing a cold and she’s been feeling down.
Rachel has many different stressors in her life. Many of these are psychosocial, having to do with relationships, academics, work, and overload. All of these factors can result in sleepiness, depression, mood swings, frustration, anxiety, and many more symptoms. It can also affect her concentration and memory. Having so many stressors can affect her physically too. She’ll begin to feel tired and sluggish in everyday routines, especially if she isn’t getting at least seven or eight hours of sleep a night or exercising her body. She’ll begin to feel sick because she has so many pressures on her body, and her immune system will be working in overdrive. So it can’t fight things off as easily. She even gains the risk of developing a chronic stress related disease.
These stressors affect all six dimensions of health. The six dimensions are social, spiritual, physical, emotional, environmental, and intellectual. When one of these dimensions is affected, they all are affected. Because Rachel may be out of sync emotionally or socially due to all the stress, all her dimensions are affected.
I would prescribe Rachel some stress managing techniques. Today, she could begin a journal or calendar where she could schedule out her day while making sure not to overload herself and leave a little “me time”. Within the next two weeks, she should try to cut back on some of the things she’s doing and try to create a simpler schedule that she can manage. She should also look into creating a support network for herself that way she has someone to lean on or fall to if she ever needs them. To mange stress long term I think she should get involved with some type of stress relieving exercise program, and create a system for organizing her daily tasks and her personal finances.
Mike is a 20 year old young man who is a full time college student, and works at a local restaurant as a waiter. He grew up in a nice home, with a nice family, and countless friends that he often spent time with. In his teenage years, he was an active member of the youth group at his church and he never really got into any major trouble. He was a very respectful young man who made good grades, participated in school sports, and lived a very healthy and happy life.
ReplyDeleteAfter graduation, Mike went to college where he received a scholarship to play football. During his first semester of college, he began to feel overwhelmed with his amount of schoolwork. On top of all of this schoolwork, he had to spend a lot of time practicing with his team and lifting weights. On the weekends he went to work, where he made just enough money to buy himself enough gas for his car. His schedule did not allow him enough time get enough sleep every night. He began staying up late doing schoolwork, and waking up early in the morning to go to class. He constantly felt stressed and overwhelmed and soon, his performance at football practice was affected and he was kicked off of the team. Being kicked off of the football team made Mike even more stressed. It also hurt his self-confidence and he became depressed.
Mike’s lack of sleep and high amount of stress severely affected his psychological health. He couldn’t think clearly and began to eat more food as a result of the stress that he was under. Because he began to eat more, he started gaining weight and his physical health began to decline. After gaining a lot of weight, his depression increased and began to lose interest in hanging out with his friends. This affected his social health. Mike began to feel lonely. He had nobody to talk to about his emotions that he was experiencing, and his emotional health began to decline. He began to sit in his dorm room, by himself, feeling as if there was no purpose for his life. His spiritual health began to suffer, and soon, all mike wanted to do was sit inside. He had no interest in being outdoors and he lost his appreciation for the environment, therefore affecting his environmental health.
In order to reduce his stress and improve his health, today, Mike could make a habit of creating a list of tasks that he wants to accomplish every day. If he can complete the tasks on this list, he will feel a sense of accomplishment. This should reduce his stress and boost his self confidence. Within the next two weeks, he should begin managing his time better and he should begin a diet and regular exercise. Time management will help him get enough sleep every night and reduce stress. Diet and exercise will help him lose weight and help reduce stress. Over the next several months, Mike should continue these actions and try to have enough time to hangout with his friends again. If he continues to practice these things, he will have more self confidence, less stress, and all six health dimensions will improve.
Hello my name is Nelson. I would consider myself an average twenty year old man. When you look at me you see a man who looks healthy. I am the average size for a man who is six foot one. I look to be in good shape because the part time work I do involves a lot of physical labor. Besides a muscular body when you look at me you will see my crazy red hair and blue eyes. When you look you will also see the smile I always try so hard to keep on my face. I try to make people think I am a cool laid back person with no worries when in reality behind the scenes my life is hectic and filled with stress I don’t always know how to handle.
ReplyDeleteThe main reason for my stress is financial problems. But this leads to problems in other areas of my life to. These areas include my personal relationship, work, and school. It feels like everything is piling on top of each other. This all began about five months ago when my girlfriend and I decided to move out on our own. This is the first time I have ever had to be responsible for my own finances. To maintain the rent I have to work part time on top of being a full time student. And sometimes I just don’t make enough to give myself and girlfriend everything we need. These financial problems have caused some major fights between me and my spouse. And that really bothers me because what we have is so good. But she is always pressuring me about working more hours. What she does not realize is that I can’t take on anymore. I am barely making it through school as it is. My school work has a tendency for getting put off for thing like work. It all seems to pile up. I am constantly in overload. It feels like every time I get up on my feet someone swipes them right back from under me. I am always tired yet I find myself having a hard time going to sleep at night. In my mind all I can think of is the things that went wrong that day. Life is just getting ruff. I have constant migraines that I never get a break from. This also hurts me in school because I have a hard time concentrating. All dimensions of my health have been affected negatively. Things have gotten so bad that I had to figure something out. So I made an appointment with my doctor. I asked my doctor if there was anything she could suggest for me to help manage my stress.
When I went to the doctor I told her everything that had been going on. And she did have a few suggestions for what I could do to help. She prescribed that starting today I practice deep breathing techniques. She said this would help relax me and keep me at peace. She also recommended in the next week or two I get a planner so I can schedule to do my work in a timely manner. Do a little at a time till I have it all done. Keep your schedule realistic. This will help me balance school and work. Another thing she recommended to help me long term is to is to create a budget and do more financial planning. I should have planed out at the beginning of the month about how much money I am going to need for the bills. And stick to your budget. If I can make these changes I feel like my stress can be reduces. It may not go away all together but it will improve.
Mike is a 20 year old young man who is a full time college student, and works at a local restaurant as a waiter. He grew up in a nice home, with a nice family, and countless friends that he often spent time with. In his teenage years, he was an active member of the youth group at his church and he never really got into any major trouble. He was a very respectful young man who made good grades, participated in school sports, and lived a very healthy and happy life.
ReplyDeleteAfter graduation, Mike went to college where he received a scholarship to play football. During his first semester of college, he began to feel overwhelmed with his amount of schoolwork. On top of all of this schoolwork, he had to spend a lot of time practicing with his team and lifting weights. On the weekends he went to work, where he made just enough money to buy himself enough gas for his car. His schedule did not allow him enough time get enough sleep every night. He began staying up late doing schoolwork, and waking up early in the morning to go to class. He constantly felt stressed and overwhelmed and soon, his performance at football practice was affected and he was kicked off of the team. Being kicked off of the football team made Mike even more stressed. It also hurt his self-confidence and he became depressed.
Mike’s lack of sleep and high amount of stress severely affected his psychological health. He couldn’t think clearly and began to eat more food as a result of the stress that he was under. Because he began to eat more, he started gaining weight and his physical health began to decline. After gaining a lot of weight, his depression increased and began to lose interest in hanging out with his friends. This affected his social health. Mike began to feel lonely. He had nobody to talk to about his emotions that he was experiencing, and his emotional health began to decline. He began to sit in his dorm room, by himself, feeling as if there was no purpose for his life. His spiritual health began to suffer, and soon, all mike wanted to do was sit inside. He had no interest in being outdoors and he lost his appreciation for the environment, therefore affecting his environmental health.
In order to reduce his stress and improve his health, today, Mike could make a habit of creating a list of tasks that he wants to accomplish every day. If he can complete the tasks on this list, he will feel a sense of accomplishment. This should reduce his stress and boost his self confidence. Within the next two weeks, he should begin managing his time better and he should begin a diet and regular exercise. Time management will help him get enough sleep every night and reduce stress. Diet and exercise will help him lose weight and help reduce stress. Over the next several months, Mike should continue these actions and try to have enough time to hangout with his friends again. If he continues to practice these things, he will have more self confidence, less stress, and all six health dimensions will improve.
Herbert Watson is suffering from extreme amounts of stress. He is a 24 year old. He usually has sweat stains on his clothes and usually has many blemishes. He is six foot one inch tall. He has black hair and brown eyes and tan skin. He has an athletic build. Despite his stress induced perspiration and acne, Herbert is an attractive guy. While Herbert was in college at Lander University, he impregnated his girlfriend. They decided that the best thing to do was to get married and raise the child together. Both him and his wife graduated from college. She is a teacher now and he is enrolled at the Medical University of South Carolina. Their daughter is now 3 years old. His wife is a teacher and took a teaching job an hour from Herbert’s school and an hour and a half from their apartment. Herbert is studying to be a physical therapist. He spends very little time with his family and is unable to spend much time with his daughter or wife. The family is living off of Herbert’s student loans and his wife’s teacher salary. But they are paying off her loans and have many expenses. They are consistently late on paying their rent so their credit score is awful and they have not been approved for even the smallest loan for a car. The family works off of one 1992 Saturn. This car takes their daughter to daycare then drives an hour and a half to his wife’s school. Herbert wakes up at around 5:30 to get public transportation to his school.
ReplyDeleteThis stress has taken a toll on Herbert’s entire family. His daughter has picked up a biting habit from daycare and does not want to go to sleep at night because she has not seen her mother or father and they spend most nights dealing with tantrums over bedtime. After the kind of day Herbert and his young wife have, they go straight to sleep at night. They have not had sex in six months and every conversation they have is centered on their financial burdens. Because of their hasty marriage, they have been ostracized from their families and have no emotional supports.
Herbert eats mostly fast food and constantly has heart burn. He finally got a doctors appointment where he was diagnosed with ulcers and acid reflux disease. Herbert also suffers from migraine headaches. All the stress he is under heightens his susceptibility to colds that linger for weeks because he has no time to recover.
Psychologically, Herbert feels overwhelmed. He fears that his marriage will crumble and he will lose his daughter and wife. These days, he is very irritable and short tempered. Mentally, his lack of sleep has made him very forgetful. Spiritually, he is very disenchanted with the higher power in his life. Physically, he has lost his immunity, has a poor diet, has many physical ailments, and doesn’t exercise. Intellectually, his lack of sleep and focus is making his memory suffer and his problem solving abilities to weaken. Socially, he has little time for friends and family and has found himself without any support system. And the last thing Herbert Watson is thinking about is the environment.
Although some of Herbert’s circumstance will only change with time, there are some things he can improve upon. But he can make a change today. He needs to start buying groceries and packing a healthy lunch for himself and his family. Within the next two weeks, he can find a daycare closer to his school so that he can be spend more time with his daughter. He also can start walking to a bus stop that is further from the family apartment so he can start out his day with some exercise. Also, in the next two weeks they must also find a way to focus on getting their daughter to sleep peacefully so that they can have some time together. Long term, his wife should find a teaching job closer to the family or they need to find a living place in between the school he attends and the school she teaches at. This way they can have more time together as a family. They should also have a schedule that allows him time to sleep.
The front door opened, cutting a pale streak of light across the floor, and lighting a faint path to the kitchen in the heart of the tiny, albeit quaint, home. With no further illumination, a lone figure trudged over the threshold and into that kitchen. The shadow broke the faint path of powdery light as the figure passed through the doorway and toward a lopsided chair made of elm standing alone beside a barren round table of the same creation. The figure slumped into that lone chair and gave into the weight of the exhaustion riddling its body. Once slumped, that same path of light fell across the weary form, revealing a haggard, but obviously beautiful beneath it all, woman clothed in a frazzled gray skirt and blazer combo. She had sleek brown hair of medium length that had been pulled into a neat bun atop her head, pale skin dampened by the early beginnings of an evening rain, and delicate ears adorned by simple pearls. She pressed her hands against her eyes and rubbed, letting out a long and broken sigh. A light flipped on and she lifted her head, startled. Her emerald greens eyes, alighted by the threatening tears. A little girl stood in the doorway, rubbing her eyes and hugging a teddy bear. She was four years old, the little sister of a sixteen year old brother still asleep in his bedroom. She asked her mother why she was sad, and the woman hesitated but a moment before composing herself and stretching out her arms to the small child. “Mommy’s okay, sweetheart.”
ReplyDeleteJuliana is a thirty-two year old mother of two. Her life until the last few months seemed picture perfect; two beautiful children, a loving husband, and three separate savings accounts (one for her and her husband, and two for her children respectively). She had worked hard throughout her teens and saved every penny she ever earned. When her great-grandmother died, Juliana directly inherited close to 200,000 dollars. She was very careful never to spend too much and always refilled her bank account. When she had her daughter, her husband told her he didn’t want her to work anymore. He’d rather her stay home and take care of their daughter, he said. So she quit her job and stayed home and was happy. Then, three months prior to her slumping into that lopsided chair, her husband came to her, drunk as a whistle, and said he was leaving. Blunt as a hammer he told her that the money was gone, he’d gambled most of it away and had spent the remainder on a ring for his mistress. He of course didn’t touch the children’s savings because Juliana had to be present to do anything with those accounts. Her world was shattered; she was absolutely dumfounded. Her husband demanded both a divorce and custody of the children and stormed out of the house, throwing his legal documents on the very table she is sitting at now.
Fast forward to the current evening: Juliana is jobless; plagued by bills she cannot pay because she refuses to touch her children’s money, and has spent her day pleading the courts not to take away her children. She is overwhelmed by stress and by grief. So bad is the stress that it often leaves her infirm, hugging porcelain or sweating bullets. She spends much of her time crying, and has struggled every moment to resist alcohol or narcotics. She rarely eats, barely sleeps, and occupies herself trying to think of a way to win her children.
It is the thought of her remarkable children alone that keeps her going. She refuses to hand them over to the man who betrayed them all. Seeing their faces and hearing their voices is the last trace of euphoria she has. Right now, as she sees her daughter’s sweet, innocent face she smiles. For a brief moment, she is at peace. She kisses the child’s head and embraces her.” Live to fight another day for my children,” she thinks to herself. “What a wonderful motto that is.”
Angela is a 22 year old white female with long brown hair and green eyes. She weighs 125 pounds and is 5 feet 5 inches tall. Angela is a senior in college at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, NC. Angela’s family isn’t wealthy, therefore, she has to work in order to pay for her rent, car insurance, utilities, food, and clothing. Angela works 30 hours a week at a local grocery store to pay for her bills and she is also a full time student, in which she is taking 17 credit hours this semester to graduate on time. Angela also takes on the role of student body president, in which takes up her spare time (when she has time to spare). Angela splits the bills along with her roommate Sarah. On average, Angela’s half of the rent and utilities are $450, however she has other bills such as, car insurance and credit cards to pay for which total $200 a month. Angela also has to make sure that she has enough money to buy food and gas for her car which total $100 a month. Angela’s total assets for the month equal to $750, therefore, Angela doesn’t normally buy new clothes unless she has the extra cash.
ReplyDeleteAngela is burned out with all the stress going on in her life with work and school because she juggles both the responsibilities of a full time student and she has to work a job to meet her survival needs, such as food and shelter. She doesn’t have any time to get the proper rest that she needs. Angela feels her body starting to deteriorate. She starts to develop chronic migraines due to the stressors in her life, such as having to attend classes all day then working at her job that night. Even though she is tired when she gets home from work, she still has to stay up to do her homework. This causes a problem in Angela’s sleeping behavior; she only sleeps 3 hours a night due to staying up all night studying. Angela also has unhealthy eating habits. She eats at a lot of fast food restaurants, such as Burger king, McDonalds’, and Wendy’s, because she doesn’t have time to cook a healthy meal. If Angela isn’t at school then she is at work. However, if she does have an hour to spare in between these two, then she will do her homework to save her some time from doing it when she gets off work. Angela is busy all day from 8:30 A.M-9:30 P.M; she never slows down, but her body is starting to feel the pressure.
Angela’s six dimensions of health are not being nurtured. Her physical health is deteriorating by her developing migraines. Angela doesn’t have any time to spare to socialize, therefore, her social health is in jeopardy. Her intellectual health is slowly diminishing because she’s not able to think clearly anymore from the many things going on in her life. However, Angela is able to express her emotions to her best friend, Veronica, by explaining to her all the responsibilities in her life. Her environmental health is also lacking; she doesn’t have time to observe the outdoors and enjoy the environment. Before Angela took on all these responsibilities, she was in touch with her spiritual health, but now she doesn’t have any meaning her life. Angela used to love to go to church to worship God and sing, but her daily duties in life prevent her from going.
Today, Angela can take 30 minutes a day to do something that she enjoys doing. In the next two weeks, Angela can try to eliminate some of her bills by possibly getting a third roommate to help split the cost of rent and utilities, in which will lower her bill responsibilities each month. This will allow Angela to cut back on some of her hours at work to have more time for her to rest. In the long-term Angela can focus on eating better. She can cook a healthy dinner that night and pack it for lunch the next day. Angela can also identify all her stressors to see if there are any that she can eliminate.
Nancy is an eighteen year oldfreshman in college, who is very friendly and loves to participate in any social event. She was valedictorian of her high school class, won prom queen, awarded most valuable player for basketball, and voted most likely to succeed during her senior year. She is now depressed because she lost her mother to breast cancer a month after school started and her father called to inform that he will not be able to keep paying her tuition and she may have to drop out of school. The fact that her mother will no longer be in her life to watch her succeed, makes her want to give up instantly. In order to get the scholarship she wants, her GPA must be at least a 3.7 and she has a 3.2. Her friends no longer see the bubble, friendly Nancy, but instead a more dark and depressing side of her. As far as her dimensions of health; she has gained massive weight (physical), she is anti-social (social), sad about everything (emotional), she hates going to church (spiritual), she’s failing all of her classes (intellectual), and does not give a crap about the environment. Nancy appears to be doing well on the outside, but she bottles her feelings and the only people who truly know what is going on are her friends. In order to get Nancy back to her usual self, she is going to figure out little things that can help reduce her stress. Today, Nancy can perform a deep-breathing exercise when she feels stress is hitting her. Going to a quiet corner and meditating can help lower her blood pressure and give her a sense of peace. Another thing is for her to buy a journal and keep track of her daily activities, and see what stresses her the most. Within the next two weeks, Nancy can get a planner and keep track of every assignment for each of her classes. She can break her major projects and tests into small tasks and decide how to distribute her time to them. The final thing that Nancy can do is try to exercise for at least thirty minutes a day. Doing simple exercises such as walking can help her reduce her stress and bring her down to a much more calm state of mind.
ReplyDeleteThe name of my person is Ashley. She is 20 years old and a little over weight. She has medium length brown hair, brown eyes, wears glasses, about 5'5". She is also white and is a Sophomore in College. Her stressors are having to deal with school, keep up with her family, friends and her health. The stress affecting her health is giving her symptoms of Insomnia and Irritability. The stress is affecting her body through the disease Epilepsy. Because of this disease, she is constantly worrying about when and where her next seizure will happen. She cannot drive for at least 6 months after her seizures and is often made fun of because of them. Later in her life, having children will be harder if she stayed on her medicine, because it would harm the baby, and if she didn't take it, it would harm her. Her social health is pretty healthy. She has friends and family she cares about and spends time with. Her intellectual health is pretty healthy. She does well in school and makes good decisions. Her emotional health is not so healthy. She tends to be very blunt and harsh when she first meets people and she seems to rub her health problems in people's faces. Her environmental health is healthy. She likes animals and recycles when she can. Her spiritual health is very healthy, though is more religiosity than spiritual. The prescription I would give her is Lamactil and Wellbutrin. The Lamactil would help with her seizures and Wellbutrin would help her not feel as overwhelmed with her life's responsibilities. Today, she can remember to take her meds and see her doctor(s) on a regular basis. In the next two weeks, she can check back to see what has changed and/or gotten worse. For long-term management of stress, she should not just focus on one of the six health dimensions, but all of them, in order to be balanced.
ReplyDeleteJethro Tillman has never been in the hospital and has never had any serious chronic health problems. As a retired farmer going on 70 years old, he could be described as physically fit for his age group since although he is retired he still spends his time farming 3 acres of farm land beside his home in Pamplico, SC. His face is tan from the many days he's spent working in the sun and covered in wrinkles from his many years of life. Even though he has started to realize that he doesn't have many years left, he has always been confident in his capabilities until now. Over the past few months he has had to acknowledge his waning mortality, especially after persistent asthma symptoms caused his doctor to perform tests for lung cancer.
ReplyDeleteAfter hearing of Jethro's persistent symptoms, Dr. King orders him to undergo an MRI. A week later, Jethro is back in Dr. King's office for the results which fill Jethro with dread. The MRI and other tests show signs of stage 1 lung cancer. Jethro is schedule to undergo surgery as well as chemo. As his surgery date and following chemo treatment looms in his future, Jethro finds himself having a difficult time coping with the news and being suddenly faced with this threat to his life. He no longer finds farming satisfying, but instead he spends his time sitting and fretting about his future. He finds himself worrying over finances, how his sickness will affect his family, how will his friends treat him after they find out, and whether there is life after death. Problems in Jethro's physical dimension of health are affecting all of the other dimensions of health. As he ponders how his sickness will complicate all of the areas of his life, Jethro is losing sleep and slipping into depression because he cannot seem to overcome the accompanying feeling of dread about his future. In addition to sleep difficulties, Jethro has also been suffering from nausea, tension headaches, and body aches as well as episodes of hyperventilation and tremors when he feels overwhelmed by his circumstances.
Dr. King schedules him an appointment to discuss the unnecessary toll that added stress will have on his body and his recovery efforts. Dr. King first reiterates the importance that he takes time to educate himself about his sickness and treatment. Learning more about the condition and treatments will help him be more comfortable with his treatment as well as build his self-efficacy. This will help him maintain a positive outlook on life during his time of stress.
Dr. King then tries to address Jethro's sleep problems. After discovering Jethro's recent neglect of exercise, Dr. King recommends that Jethro continue farming in order to maintain his physical fitness. This will help his body stay strong and prepare it to combat his sickness while also providing much needed stress reducing hormones as well as better sleep conditions. Also Jethro must practice relaxation techniques such as relaxing hobbies or routines.
After his surgery Dr. King recommends taking the proper steps to maintain Jethro's physical fitness throughout chemo. He must continue to manage stress and have plenty of relaxation and sleep to help combat the physical stress of treatment on his body. He must eat right in order to maintain his energy levels properly and always strive to remain positive.
After his treatment has completely ended and Jethro is free of cancer, Dr. King still wants Jethro to maintain methods to help manage stress and live a healthier lifestyle. Jethro now realizes that the simple stress-reducing solutions that his doctor recommended after his diagnosis are an important part of everyday to lead a healthier life.
My person is Christopher Robin he is 18 years old and is in his first semester of college. He received an athletic scholarship for football at school that is several miles from home. He has never been this far from home and has never been away from his family for more than a couple of nights. He is struggling with maintaining his grades, football practice, and also being far from his family. He is beginning to feel overwhelmed and that things are just constantly pilling up on each other and he just wants to go home. He is constantly pulling all nighters to try and get things done which is beginning to affect his performance in class and at football practice. He is constantly tired, irritable, and is getting sick more than he used to.
ReplyDeleteThe stress he is feeling is beginning to affect the six dimensions of his health. You can see his physical health being affected when he is at football practice. He is not able to keep with his teammates anymore and after only an hour of practice he is already ready to be done. He is also sick a lot more than he used to be because the stress and lack of sleep is weakening his immune system. His emotional health is being affected because he is much more irritable and standoffish than he used to be before coming to college and dealing with all the stress he is dealing with now. His emotional health is also affecting his social health. Because he is more irritable and standoffish and constantly playing catch up with work he doesn’t have time or the want to be around his friends anymore. Because he is waiting until the last minute to do everything and pulling all nighters his intellectual health is being affected. He is doing poorly on assignments because he isn’t putting his full effort into them and he has trouble staying awake and paying attention in class so he isn’t comprehending anything that he is learning. Because he not planning his days out well on Sundays he feels he doesn’t have time to go to church anymore and when he does try to go he is so tired that he doesn’t wake up in time to go. School is his only occupation right now and it has already been shown to affect his schoolwork.
To help manage his stress today he can start by taking deep breathes when he is feeling stressed out and schedule in short ten minute naps to help fight a lot of the tiredness he is feeling. Within the next two weeks he can start making sure he is writing everything down that he has to do and make a set schedule of when he is going to do everything. If he sticks to this he shouldn’t feel like everything is piling up and that he has no time to do anything because everything will be planned out. Over the course of a long period of time he might consider transferring to a school that is closer to home so that it helps with the separation he is feeling with his family and if he can afford to he might think about giving up football if he is still feeling to stressed out after trying to schedule everything he has to do each day.
Veronica Smith is 37 years of age. She is a single mother with two children and three jobs. She constantly has head and back aches, but does not have time to visit a doctor, although she makes sure that her two sons see a doctor regularly. She only has her high school diploma, so the three salaries she makes sums up to one good one. She works so much that she sometimes does not have time to eat and when she does eat its usually fast food or on the go. She rarely gets six hours of sleep in a night and has become very irritable. She is always worried about money and never really has time to relax. After listening to Veronica’s story and noticing her somewhat I am prescribing that she quit one of her jobs and start and exercise plan. I also prescribe her to keep a food diary and get at least two home cooked meals a day.
ReplyDeleteMeet Christopher. He’s only 21 years old. He stands at six foot one, and has green/blue eyes with brown curly hair. He is currently under stress all around him. He has the stress of school, work, and family. He works five days week for six hours a day. He’s a pizza delivery guy and he’s always on the run. He goes to school four days during the week, before he starts his job delivering pizzas. The short times that he has to himself with no school or work is spent cleaning his sister’s house, looking after his nephews, and feeling the pressures from his mother to make time for her. Since Christopher doesn’t get off work until ten, has to clean up, and drive home, to usually makes it back around eleven. Then if there is still house work, or school work that needs to be done before the next day, he has to complete it. This could take anywhere between two and four hours, depending on what and how much has to be complete. Even though, he could be in bed by two in the morning, Christopher has trouble getting to sleep. He tosses and turns during the night and struggles to make it out of the bed in time. Monday and Wednesday, he has to be up by nine at the latest. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, he must be up at 7:30.
ReplyDeleteHis six dimensions of health are being affected as follows:
-His physical health is less than wonderful because he can’t sleep. He feels tired all the time, and he doesn’t have a lot of down time to rest and restore his energy.
- His social health has something to be desired. Even though he gets face time with customers on deliveries, he doesn’t have time to go hang out with friends. He only sees his sister, her boyfriend, and his nephews. With no girlfriend, it’s hard to get out of the house. His mother calls and makes him feel as though he is a horrible son, because he is busy and doesn’t always make time for her.
- Intellectual health has maintained homeostasis. His stress has yet to affect his ability to make clear and understandable decisions.
- His emotional health is lacking slightly. Since time is not his friend, his grades are suffering and lacks self-efficacy, and self-esteem. He confides his problems to his ex-girlfriend who he is still really close to.
- His environmental health is low. He is not concerned at all for the environment around him, and does not recycle.
- His spiritual health is moderately poor. He feels as though he doesn’t know where to go in life, and he feels as though he’s a failure. He does contain his concerns for later on in life when it comes to his family. They don’t really know what’s going on or how he feels. He has no main religion; just some beliefs about what is right and wrong.
My prescription for Christopher would be to manage his time better. He has time during the day to try and accomplish more. He just lacks the motivation or skill to get all things that are necessary done. He should try to make a daily schedule of things that need to be done, and in his off time, try to accomplish at least one thing on his list. This would help with his physical health by giving him more time to sleep, and his social health would be better because he could find some study buddies in classes to study with. That way he could kill two birds with one stone. In the next couple of weeks, he could try and talk to his family more to restore those close family ties. Not to mention, if he stuck to a schedule, and studied with people, his grades might improve and his social skills would increase. By the end of the semester, he could have brought his already poor grades up to more acceptable ones.
301 Hudson
ReplyDeleteFor my fourth blog, I have decided to write about my friend Ashley Nicole. Ashley is a nineteen year-old junior in college. While Ashley does not currently have a job, she is a full-time student attending Allen University. I first met her while she was visiting a friend here at Francis Marion University. My first thoughts of Ashley were that she was very pretty, very slim, and just a person who seemed to be extremely happy. After her first semester at Allen University, she decided to transfer to FMU. The semester she transferred, she decided to join FMU’s Dimension of Diversity Dance Team. After she became a member of the dance team, I didn’t quite understand the way she behaved. We were completely opposites.
After several months of being on the same team and after a horrible break-up between me and my boyfriend, although being complete opposites Ashley seemed to be the only person standing by my side through everything. We began hanging out more often and it wasn’t long before I understood why Ashley behaved the way she did. While I was the type to care about my appearance, about what people thought about me and materialistic things, Ashley could care less about what she wore, people’s opinions and cherished every little thing. We continued to be friends, and after several months Ashley slowly opened up to me and I learned that as a teenager Ashley had been neglected by her father, watched her sister die after being hit by a car and as a college student had been abusing pot causing her to be malnutrition during the process.
Every day I watch Ashley’s become more and more addicted to pot, its so depressing. It depresses me because I offend get lost for words because I want to be able to help her as much as she helped me when no one could. As much as Ashley wants to believe abusing pot is relieving her from all of her problems, its only making them worse. In result to her smoking pot, she has become very malnutrition. She is smaller than average nineteen year-old, and will only eat maybe once a day; with her one meal being twelve cookies. Ashley’s six dimension of health are all being negatively effected, I believe the stress and trauma from her past as well as her present issues are effecting her mentally and physically.
After meeting and getting to know Ashley my whole perception of the way I thought about things that happen changed, for the better. She has helped me change and progress in such a positive way and I only want the same if not better for her. I believe that Ashley can turn her whole life around with the help of someone who is continuously positive and only if she is wiling. In place of abusing the drug I believe that she could find something that can help her reach the same high, like running or shopping for an example. These could also help reduce stress. During the next two weeks, as well as long term Ashley could get involved in more organizations on campus to help her stay focused and busy, keeping her mind off of the things that effect her negatively. She’s a great singer so I believe that if I continue to motivate and support her that could also become a daily hobby. If everything goes as planned, I believe that everything will get better.
Robin is a twenty-nine year old African-American female. She is what most people would call big boned, but she is physically fit and healthy. She maintains a healthy lifestyle by eating healthy and exercising. She works as a traveling nurse, and in between assignments she would attend a gym where she had temporary membership. She is very content with life because she has family and friends who love and support her.
ReplyDeleteRobin is an attractive woman who was engaged to a very handsome man. They were a perfect couple, and she was madly in love with him. She thought she had it all until her fiancé broke off their engagement the day before he married another woman. Robin did not take this well. She experienced a lot of emotional distress. She stopped trusting men and later stopped trusting people in general. Her self-worth was tremendously affected by this. She felt unattractive, worthless and unloved. She began eating unhealthy meals and did not have the energy to maintain her daily active lifestyle. This caused her to put on a few pounds which made her more distressed and lead to her alcohol abuse. Robin shunned herself from the rest of the world. She stopped accepting phone calls from family and friends who were concerned for her. She was very unhappy and did not feel that life was worth living anymore.
Robin’s mother intervened and convinced her to receive some professional help. She was advised to immediately decrease her alcohol intake and start eating healthy. Within the next two weeks, she was advised to join a gym to begin exercising to help relieve her stress. She should make a list of things in her life and focus on those things. She should become more social and surround herself with positive people. She should avoid social gatherings where people who are in intimate relationships may attend. She was also advised, in the long run, to be open to meeting new people, and learn to forgive her ex-fiancé and move on.
Hello, I would like to introduce you to my patient Mary. Mary is an African American single mother of 2 children; a 15 year old daughter Erika and a 10 year old son Mike. She is 32 years old and works 2 part time jobs to support her household. While working two jobs and being a mother she also takes care of her aging mother who suffers from severe diabetes.
ReplyDeletePhysically Mary is 5 foot 8 inches tall, she weighs 230 pounds and she suffers from high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Since diabetes runs in her family she is at high risk of contracting that disease as well.
Mary is forced to work two jobs, because the father of her children is in prison and does not finically support her children she is forced to do everything on her on without any help. She is very prideful and does not want to accept assistance from the government.
As far as her support system, she is surrounded around friends that are going through the same type of situations and live style that she is going through so there is always drama going on around her.
The different obstacles that Mary is faced with every day is really taking a toll or her body and on her emotionally. Physically she does not get as much sleep as she needs to get because of her hectic schedule of jobs, kids, and taking care of her mother. She eats more when she is stressed and that adds on to her high blood pressure and her high cholesterol as well as her weight. Emotionally, she is very depressed and looking for a way to get through everything she is going through.
Prescription: A prescribed that Mary finds a babysitter for the kids for a full 3 day weekend. She needs to go at least 2 hours out of town away from the kids, and her mother. There should be no calls to Mary ONLY emergency calls. During this getaway Mary is too just relax and worry about herself, and take care of herself. Pamper her; go to the spa, sit in a Jacuzzi or a nice bath, and just relax. When she gets back home she needs to go down to DSS and sign up for assistance. Because she cannot do everything on her own and she needs a little help. She does not have to stay on it for long but just long enough to get her on her feet. She also needs to get her mother a home care worker that her mother will pay for. A diet needs to be put into place for her as well, so that she can get her weight down and control her blood pressure and diabetes. As far as emotionally and mentally she needs to start concentrating on making sure she makes time for her, and make time to go to church. All of this should be done within the next two weeks as well as long term.
Hi everyone,
ReplyDeleteWell there is this 24 year old co-worker of mine who is suffering from major stress issues. Her name is Julia and she has two kids, ages 2 and 6, and has recently graduated from college with a Chemistry degree a year and a half ago. She is a single parent living in a one bedroom apartment and is having trouble finding a job eventhough she has her degree. She is currently working at Wal-mart part-time. Her mother was helping her with the kids, but since graduation, she has been on her own. Julia has been told that in order to possibly have a chance at finding work in her area of study, she will have to relocate, but she doesn’t have the money or encouragement to do so.
Before we even discussed her problems, I could tell Julia was under a lot of pressure by the way she acted, talked, and overall carried herself. When she came to work she didn’t smile anymore, she always said things like, “Lord, how am I going to make it through” or “I just feel like giving it all up today.” Her wardrobe became very sloppy and she dressed in non-matching layers. Julia stopped doing her hair and make-up. She now looks like a completely different person from the person I originally met. We use to sit with a group of people on lunch, but now she alienates herself and sits alone. She always complains about having headaches from not getting enough sleep because she stays up stressing about tomorrow. She has recently told me that she was going to start taking sleeping pills to help take her mind off of her problems and “sleep them away.” As far as her kids, she has full custody, but Julia has also said she was thinking of putting them up for adoption until she can better provide for them.
Julia’s physical, social, intellectual, emotional, spiritual, and environmental dimensions of health are affected to some degree. Physically, she is not active at all. At work we lift different thing so before actually starting work, we normally stretch. Julia does not participate in the pre-stretch warm up, she just says “If I injure myself, that equals workers comp!” Her appearance has also changed in a negative way,she takes little pride in how she looks now. She has become very anti-social, eventhough she talks to me, it’s only about the negative aspects of her life, but when others are around, she stays away. I think the consideration of putting her kids up for adoption is the proof that her intellect is not quite up to par. She says they don’t go hungry, they have clothes, and shelter, but they “don’t have the best” as she would say. Julia says that she prays to God to help her through her trials which would seem like she is still spiritually healthy, but when she says she is going to give up says otherwise.
To help Julia, I would first recommend that she speaks with a professional psychiatrist to guide her in controlling her negative emotions. I already encourage her and give her positive insight on what she considers a “bad situation.” I tell her all the time that she is a good mother because she places her children first and their basic needs are met. I think she should also do some sort of relaxation routine, such as yoga, to ease her mind and put her in a relaxation state to help clear her mind, as well as put her at a level of peace to get some rest at night instead of the sleeping pills. Talking to a financial advisor is another thing I think could be helpful for Julia. They could show her proper ways to manage her money so that she can save enough to relocate and have better job options. So today she could, start the yoga to relax herself before she starts the more strenuous activities of managing her stress and stressors. So within a week or two she will be ready to get her major plans in motion, such as getting with the financial advisor to go over her options to help her with her relocation. If Julia sticks with relaxation routines, money management,and stressors to a minimum or at least have them under control, she will be healthier and have more positive than negative stress!
Jenny is a 19 year old college sophomore. She is very energetic and always has a smile on her face. She has a bright and bubble personality and always views the glass as half full and believes that there is good in everyone. Her first year of college was the best year of her life. Now that she is a sophomore her course work load has increased and she is having trouble balancing school and the hassle of the summer job that she decided to continue working during the school semester. Jenny is also a health fanatic but there has been a change in her eating habits as well as her physical activity. She no longer has time to prepare her food like she once did in the past. Since she is constantly on the go she often finds herself as a usual customer at the various local fast food restaurants and the mall food court. Due to her unhealthy eating habits and lack of physical active she is not as energetic as she once was. She has now gained a few pounds and is much more tired than usual. The stresses of school, work, and social life are taking a toll on her health. She is now receiving less sleep, physical activity, and nutrient that she was once receiving. Stress is effecting her life in a negative way because she is no longer able to handle the things that she was once capable of doing.
ReplyDeleteSymptoms of stress on her body are causing her to have frequent migraines, skin blemishes, and muscle cramps and fatigue. These new changes are causing her to become less sociable, and when she does have free time she is constantly trying to do last minute work or catch up on sleep. Psychologically she no longer has fun and is quick to become angry. She is often overwhelmed with school and work. This is taking a toll on her six dimensions of health. Due to her lack of sleep, nutrition, and physical activity, it is really affecting her six dimensions of health. Since all of these dimensions overlap, each one suffers in some way. Her social life is lacking due to the fact that she no longer has the time. Since her social life is not as it once was she longer has the time for her environmental health or intellectual health. This then affects her physical health because she no longer has time to exercise and eat right and this then effects her emotional health because she no longer has time to handle or cope with the stresses of her life in a healthy way, such as, discussing her problems with family or friends. And not being sociable and involved with others is effecting her spiritual health. Overall, since there isn’t a balance in the six dimensions of health in her life, therefore, she isn’t able to achieve wellness, the optimal level of well-being. Since the dimensions are not balanced and are not being well developed to support an active and thriving lifestyle.
To better assist Jenny with her stress I would want to find ways to gradually help her. I will prescribe some things that she can today, within the next two weeks, and then some long term goals. Ways that I think would benefit her today would be asking her to make a list of things that cause her stress and then maybe begin a journal so that she can keep track of certain things that might trigger her stress throughout the day. Within the next two weeks I would as her to get a planner and write out her schedule so that she is able to see where her time is being spent and is able to see what needs to be done today so that all of her school assignments no longer overwhelm her. I would also ask that she join a support group or begin becoming more involved with family or the people in her community. Some ways to help manage her stress long term would be setting aside time to do things that she enjoys, even if it’s only for 15 or 30 minutes a day. I think that if she learns to make time for herself and learns to not sweat the small stuff she’ll be better off. Overall, I would want Jenny to know that we need stress in our lives. I want her to understand that how we deal with it, is what really affects us and our health.
Sandy Mcfee is a 26 year old high school teacher who lost her husband about 6 months ago by a car accident. Now she is left with two small children that she is raising on her own. While still working full time she is working on her masters at night school. While usually bubbly and outgoing now she is grumpy and introverted. She hasn't been sleeping very well. She's been getting headaches and backaches, been getting dizzy and feeling her heart pounding. This kind of stress is also making her forget things that she is supposed to and she can't even go to church in good conscience because she is mad a God for putting her through this stress. A few possible things that she could do now is work on getting some sleep and some relaxation routines. Maybe take up some yoga and do that for a while until she starts to feel better then start an exercise regiment. Also she should probably try and get some sort of counseling for the loss of her husband. If she does all of these things to relax her and let the stress out, in the long run she should be back to a normal stress level and health.
ReplyDeleteJessica is a 25 year old Junior in college. She has two kids and she is a single mom. She is a full time student at night and a waitress during the day. She doesnt have time to herself ever since school started back and she is definitely not eating right anymore. Her main stressors are malnutrition and she is not as social as she were before. She doesnt spend much time with her two little girls because when she leave the diner she only has two hours before school to catch up on her studies. she also eats very light so she wont fall asleep in
ReplyDeleteclass. She gets little sleep because she has to wake up early in the morning to have her kids ready for day care and she has to be to work.
Pshycologically, Jessica is feeling like someone has thrown her overboard and she can only think about what will her next move be. So she is always feeling overwhelmed. Her stressors affect her health as well as her body in all six dimensions of health. Her social health is low because she doesnt take time to communicate with her friends or her loved ones. She has lost her physical health by having poor eating habits,and lack of exercising. she think that eating will take up too much time or make her even more sleepy so she dont eat to much during the day. Sometimes in the morning Jessica skips breakfast just so she can have her girls to day care on time. She use to work out during the afternoon while her sister keep her kids, but now that school has started back she doesnt have time for anything. She is suffering alot emotionally because she feel as if she has a time limit and a place for everything and showing her emotions is not in either category. Her environment health is unreachable because she doesnt take the time to preserve enery in her home nor recycle. She has a set schedule in which is interchangeable, so she go through everyday knowing what will happen next. She is not a person where she will love to learn anything new, she is the type where the only thing she see is trying to make it through the day where her intellectual health is very unstable. She has an unhealthy Spiritual health to where her only purpose is her family and not herself. The prescription that will be prescribed to Jessica for today is she can buy a journal and list all of the things that she like to do and all of the things that she have to do and the time that she do them. During the times that she has little breaks between her studying or at work, she should do a five minute activity that she like. Or she can call one of her friends or loved one so she could get her mind off of her stressor for a while. This would help her maintain her stressor by not being as overwhelmed when she get back to whatever she has to do. A prescription for within the next two weeks, Jessica should maintain her eating habits by eating more than she was in order to maintain the amount of calories intake she need a day. This would help her from being sleepy or tired during the day. A long term prescription would be provided for Jessica to ask for at least one day off during every two weeks just to balance her work that has to be done and have time with her kids. She should also alternate her schedule so she wont have to do the same thing over every day because that can be a stressor as well.
Janie Mae is a 15 year-old, African American female. She is 5’ 9” and stars on the volleyball, soccer and basketball team at her high school. She is in the 9th grade and on the Academic Challenge team. Although Janie is very smart, she is struggling with her sexuality. She has a group of friends on the volleyball team that trash talk homosexuals, but she never says anything because she is in a relationship with a girl. When her friends talk bad about homosexuals, she takes what they are saying to heart and frequently cries alone at night. She has a big test coming up, but her friend Elizabeth is having her 16th birthday party, so instead of studying, she goes to her friends party the night before the test. On top of all of this, Janie lived in New Orleans when hurricane Katrina hit, so she is homeless. She was moved to South Carolina and housed with a family after losing her family to the disaster. Now, she does not open up to any of her friends because she is afraid she will lose them.
ReplyDeleteAfter the hurricane, Janie stays sick all of the time and always has a cold. Because of Janie’s stressors of school, sports, and suffering the loss of her family, she always has health problems. She was recently diagnosed with asthma. Because she has asthma, she can’t play sports or remain physically active very long. She often questions God for taking away her family, so she has very poor spiritual health. She often focuses on other things and day dreams in class instead of paying attention.
I would first tell Janie that she needs to accept who she is regardless of what others think. She should embrace her sexuality instead of hiding it, and could start today by letting her friends know her true identity. Within the next two weeks, she could talk to a councilor about the issues she is having with the loss of her family. It is not okay to hold emotions in. She could also form closer relationships with her friends. This would help her get over her issue of loss. To manage her long term stress, she could continue with her counseling as well as make more long-term friendships. She could even open up to her friends and quit trying to take on all her problems by herself.