Common Knowledge About Stress:
It is common knowledge that stress is implicated in:
- sleep difficulties,
- thinking and memory problems,
- moodiness (especially anger and irritability),
- behavioural problems,
- strained relationships,
- work problems, and
- and a long list of medical conditions and concerns.
Why Stress Is So Dangerous:
1) As long as the stressors impacting us increase gradually, it is "as if" they escape our conscious awareness. As a result, we tend to do nothing to reduce, remove or manage stressors that accumulate gradually. So they build and build, with each new stressor adding to the strain on our physical and emotional health. If left unchecked, the inevitable result is exhaustion, emotional breakdown, and/or illness.
2) Many individuals living in a stepfamily setting experience high levels of stress1 that accumulate and intensify over an extended period of time.
Take the following quiz to see if your stress is:
a) well managed,
b) in need of some attention, or
c) high enough to warrant a prompt and focused stress reduction intervention.
1. Ferri, Elsa & Smith, Kate (1998) Step-parenting in the 1990s. Joseph Rowntree Foundation
2. This quiz is based upon a test published by the Canadian Mental Health Association
The information contained on this page is for the personal use of stepfamily members visiting the Stepfamily Foundation of Alberta web site. All other use, reproduction, distribution or storage of this work, in whole or in part, by any and all means, without the express written permission of the author, is strictly prohibited.