There are two types of stress: positive stress, in which our anxiety levels and expectations rise preparing us for the challenges of daily life, and negative stress, which causes physical and mental damage, triggering levels of tension which are beyond the body’s ability to deal with.
There are many external stress factors that may put you in danger. However, there are also internal stress factors that are a result of a person’s fears and imagination and one’s personal history and way to perceive the world.
Signs of stress include insomnia, constant fatigue, frequent migraines, depression, lack of interest in new situations, allergic skin conditions, irritability, nausea, constant stomach pain, shortness of breath, dry mouth, fast breathing patterns, acute anxiety attacks, inability to focus, loss of sense of humor, loss or increased appetite and deterioration of personal relationships.
Pathological stress can be divided into phases. In Phase 1 the person is permanently in a state of worry and is ready to defend or attack due to a constant sensation of threat. This consumes a great amount of energy. In phase 2 symptoms become worse and the worry stage becomes a stage of war. In phase 3 lack of control increases leading to the body’s exhaustion.
It’s well known that stress is very linked to conflicts and that most absences from work and poor performance on the job are due to stress. Stress may arise in the company when there are changes or it may part of the company’s structure. Stress costs a lot to the companies by causing poor service quality which provokes an increase in complaints and loss of clients. Good results aren’t achieved and the projects don’t develop as desired due to constant employee turn-over and the loss of experts in each area. Then the company gets a bad reputation in the market, spending a lot to recover the clients’ trust.
Pay attention to the absenteeism in your company and try to detect where it is higher, it might mean stress! Also pay attention to work results and where they are poor. Even if the employees are in their designated departments, it’s impossible for them to produce and create because of their high level of dissatisfaction and “confusion”. Another important point is the rate of work-related accidents and work-related illnesses in addition to alcohol addiction among employees. Try to find solutions based on the input offered by those involved.
VITA CHECK-UP CENTER, with its disease prevention philosophy, considers detecting stress levels and treating stress extremely important. Bearing this in mind, we include a stress-evaluation interview in our diagnostic check-up. Besides, we developed a Stress-Reduction Program* carefully scanning the company for points of stress. We offer personalized seminars and workshops as well as individual psychological checks to determine company stress levels and design treatment strategies.
Remember: It’s important to recognize the existence of stress and consider it a disease with a treatment. The first step is to determine stress levels on a continuous basis for yourself and for your staff.
* Vita Check-Up Center’s Emotional Stress Department is headed by Dr. Marcia Merquior, clinical psychologist of Santa Ursula University, Master in Clinical Psychology of PUC – Rio de Janeiro and doctor in Collective Health of the Instituto de Medicina Social ( Institute of Social Medicine) of the Rio de Janeiro State University.
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