Your learning experience with ADL will not only depend on the quality of the course, but also the quality of the person teaching it. This course is taught by Iona Lister and your course fee includes unlimited tutorial support throughout. Here are Iona's credentials:

Iona Lister
Licentiate, Speech and Language Therapy, UK, Diploma in Advanced Counselling Skills.

Iona has been a clinician and manager of health services for fifteen years, and a trainer for UK-based medical charities, focusing on psychosocial issues, mental health disorders, and also the promotion of communication skills for people in helping roles. She tutors and facilitates groups via workshops and teleconferences, and now specialises in Sight Loss. As a freelance writer, she contributes regular feature articles for magazines, has written five published books, as well as published courses relating to personal development and counselling skills.
 

Iona has also written published books, courses and articles across a wide range of subjects, mostly in the areas of health, counselling, psychology, crafts and wildlife.
 

She has drawn experience from clinical and managerial experience within the NHS as well as medical and humanitarian subjects. She has been a regular feature writer and expert panel member of a national magazine for six years.

Books include: A Guide to Living with Alzheimer's Disease (and associated dementias), The Psychology of Facial Disfigurement; a Guide for Health and Social Care Professionals, When a Medical Skin Condition Affects the Way you Look; A Guide to Managing Your Future, Facing Disfigurement with Confidence, Cross Stitch: A Guide to Creativity and Success for Beginners.
Courses written include: Mental Health and Social Work, Counselling Skills, Understanding and Responding to Substance Misuse, Journalling for Personal Development, Guided Imagery, Stress Management.
 

Current work includes: Tutor: Courses associated with Creative Writing, Counselling Skills, Psychology, Holistic Therapy, Certified Hypnotherapist and Hypnotension Practitioner. 
 

Facilitator of Teleconference Groups: Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) 
 

Trainer (Skills for Seeing): Macular Society 
 

Reviewer of Books/Information: Macmillan Cancer Support 

Fundraiser: Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), Embroidery/Art Groups Facilitator, Board Member
 

Website Manager: The Strathcarron Project, Coordinator (Delaware & Tennessee) Human Writes

Excerpt from the Course

STRESS

It may seem odd to begin a subject with a lesson on stress, however hardly a day goes by without the feeling of stress creeping over us.  Leading research from around the world has concluded that 70% to 90% of adults visit primary care physicians for stress-related problems. 

Little wonder that counsellors and psychologists are frequently presented with problems of stress. Relationship demands, study demands, physical as well as mental health problems, balancing work/family and social demands, traffic congestion/road rage, product faults, discrimination, growing-up tensions—all of these conditions and situations are valid causes of stress. While some people have a stress management system in place, others simply ‘keep on keeping on’ without stopping to consider the effects their daily stress is having on them. In some people, stress-induced adverse feelings and anxieties tend to persist and intensify. Learning to understand and master stress management techniques can help prevent the counter effects of this indiscriminate and ubiquitous disease.

The Mind/Body Connection and Stress

In the discipline of psychology, the term stress is defined as the state of psycho physiological arousal.  It is virtually impossible to discuss psychological stress without describing the psychological state that accompanies it.  The dynamics of stress demonstrate the close interaction between mind and the body in human behaviour. Thus, before we discuss stress, let us first briefly take to task the mind/body problem.

During our everyday conversation, we tend to use the term body for all that is concrete and tangible about ourselves -the shape of our limbs, colour of hair etc.  The term mind on the other hand refers to the intangible part of our experience -the private storehouse of our emotions and thoughts. Thus, in our every day life, we tend to use these two terms as though they refer to entirely separate entities, which exist independent of each other. This is not the case though...they are interrelated & highly inseparable!  E.g. when we are feeling stressed, we tend to exhibit both physical and psychological symptoms.  Depression can cause tension in muscles which in turn can lead to a sore back or headache.

Stress or tension is a state of psychological and physiological arousal.  As the Oxford Dictionary states, it is "a state of affair involving demand on physical or mental energy".

When we encounter the term stress in magazines and books, it often really refers to ‘excess stress’. This can in fact be misleading, because the human being is always in a state of stress (arousal). Extreme stress conditions, psychologists say, are detrimental to human health but in moderation stress is normal and, in many cases, proves useful. Stress, nonetheless, is synonymous with negative conditions.

We use the term ‘distress’ to indicate negative stress, which can lead to harmful effects, such as being fired from ones job. The term ‘eustress’ is used to refer to positive arousal which provides a healthy challenge, such as being promoted in one’s job.

The level of stress differs from one individual to another. Certain individuals experience a higher degree of stress than others (e.g. a job promotion may cause eustress for most people but for some it could cause distress).  The level of stress also changes over time - you might be experiencing less stress now than you did a year ago.

A person can be in a state of low arousal, or high arousal. Some people tend to be one or the other most of the time.  This is characterised by someone who needs more sleep - they tend to be more relaxed (low arousal), most of the time. An extreme case would be someone who lacks energy (lethargy) and fails to notice much of what is happening in their immediate environment.

People who are generally in a high state of arousal are those who can't help but wake early, who are full of nervous energy, and perhaps tend to fidget and move about. In an extreme case, this person might jump at the slightest sound.  There are of course others who fall between these two extremes, being in a moderate state of arousal.   The group to which a person belongs is closely related to the functioning of their nervous system -how fast impulses travel from one neuron to another. This is largely inherited.

A temperamental or emotionally unstable person has a high level of tension, and a low tension threshold.

They can react fast to stimuli; and can flair up into anger in response to just one wrong word.  Effective behaviour of people with low tension thresholds can be easily disrupted by stressful situations. A person with a low tension level and high tension threshold is slow to respond to environmental stimuli, does not become angry very easily, and can generally bear a lot of stress before effective behaviour is disrupted.

There has been a lot of research into the relationship between effective behaviour and stress.  Research results show that when stress level is low, a person’s performance level is low. As the amount of stress increases, the performance level also increases. If the stress level however, becomes too high, the performance level again decreases. We can thus assume that an individual who has moderate stress will cope better than a person who has a very high or very low stress level.

While complex tasks such as solving mathematical equations are performed well at a moderate stress level, it has been found that more physical tasks, such as high jumping or marathon running, are more effectively performed at a high stress level.

How to Recognise Stress

It is important to recognize whether you or someone you know or a client is under stress. Often, even if we are under the influence of a stressful condition and our body reacts to it internally as well as externally, we fail to realize the symptoms of our stress. This also happens when the causes of stress are there long enough for us to get used to them. The body may try to tell us that it is stressed or that something is wrong, through symptoms such as:

• heart palpitations

• dizzy spells

• tight and sore muscles or

• various body pains and conditions

• blurry vision

• inability to eat or over-eating

• loss of interest in usual activities

• unexpected emotional reactions

It is important to remain attentive to such symptoms and to have a stress management system in place to counter the adverse affects of stress.

WHAT HAPPENS TO THE BODY WHEN WE EXPERIENCE STRESS?

Although physiological & psychological states are very much interrelated, it is much easier to deal with each of these separately.

The Physiological Response

The autonomic nervous system will prepare the body for emergency situations – this is known as the fight or flight response – i.e. Preparing our body to run or to fight. The sympathetic division increases our level of arousal (i.e. heart rate, adrenaline etc) and motivates us to act with alertness and speed. The parasympathetic division relaxes us after the state of emergency has disappeared. The adrenal glands play a particularly important role in determining an individual’s ability to cope with stress. Adrenalin causes constriction in the stomach and intestines (taking appetite away), and increases the rate of heart beat. No doubt you have experienced this state of tension, when your stomach becomes tight and your heartbeat faster seeming louder). The secretion of adrenalin (also known as epinephrine) excites the sympathetic system that in turn leads to even greater secretion of adrenalin. Thus a closed system of excitation and arousal is formed. This closed system is one reason why the level of excitement takes a while to disappear even after its cause goes.

Noradrenalin (also known as norepinephrine) stimulates the pituitary gland to secrete another hormone. This other hormone stimulates the liver to increase blood-sugar level, so that the body has energy for quick action.

The preparation of the body by the autonomic system is called the alarm phase. This is followed by the resistance phase. The body can resist the tension because its defence powers have been called into action during the alarm phase. The body later returns to a normal unexcited state. Certain physiological functions however, continue to perform at a high level. As a result there will be increased secretion of certain glands and organs (such as digestive juices that can lead to ulcers or diarrhoea).

If a new stressor occurs, such as an infection, the body cannot always defend itself efficiently as it did during the alarm phase.  If the individual is subject to continuous stresses, they reach a point of exhaustion, where the defence powers of the nervous system collapse. The body’s immunity system becomes depleted, and thus illness can ensue, and in extreme instances, even death. If exhaustion continues for too long, a person might suffer mental illness or a breakdown -a kind of psychological death.

Stress can cause:

• Headaches/migraines
• irritable bowel syndrome/stomach ulcers
• eating disorder
• allergies
• insomnia
• backaches
• frequent cold and fatigue

and contribute to diseases such as:

• hypertension
• asthma
• diabetes
• heart ailments
• and even cancer

If the cause of stress does not disappear for an extended length of time, the actions of the autonomic system and adrenal glands are prolonged.  The pattern of preparation for emergencies in a way, embraces the persons life in its closed circuit, so the person becomes a victim to an unyielding level of stress.

CHRONIC & ACUTE STRESS

Chronic stress occurs where an individual is subject to successive stress producing events, e.g. a battered wife in a domestic situation. While violence might only occur occasionally, its prospect is always close at hand.

Acute stress arises from more catastrophic events which are sudden and immediate (e.g. death of a spouse or child, personal injury or illness, divorce, etc.)  In this case, even though the actual cause of stress could be sudden and short lived, its effects could persist for a long time.

Not all stressful events have a dramatic effect. There are however certain life events which have a mild stressful effect which you might not be aware of. The addition of a new member to a family, a job promotion, change in diet or sleeping pattern, or even the Christmas season can cause minor stress. Minor stressors or "hassles" are not catastrophic, but can be damaging because they are pertinent and cumulative (i.e. if they recur over a long period, they can produce an accumulation of stress; and because they are related to insecurities, we don't usually share the burden which they produce). 

EBOOKS TO COMPLIMENT THIS COURSE

Psychological Profiling EBook

This engaging text explains how psychological profiling is used to assess others – from new staff and school children to criminals and killers. 

Psychological Profiling

by John Mason and the Staff of ACS

■Assessing a person’s suitability for a specific role or profession.
■Determining a specific characteristic in a person, such as intelligence or neuroses.
■Determining someone’s personality.
■Determining a person’s mental health state.
■Diagnosing clinical conditions.

We often also see tests online and in magazines that are termed "psychological tests", purporting to tell you the type of person you are by answering a few questions. Whilst these may be based upon some known pattern of traits, determining an individual’s profile is much more involved than this, and such tests only provide an indication at best. 

In light of its media and television popularity, psychological profiling has become well-known and accepted over recent years.

Profiling is essentially building up a picture of an individual’s characteristics such as likely behaviours, attitudes, personal traits, unique skills or capabilities, and so forth in relation to norms of the general population. It is an assessment carried out by a skilled psychologist, using techniques and tools from psychology to learn general and specific facts about a person. In other words, a profile is a comparison of one person’s traits and behaviours to those of everyone else. It is a picture of how similar or different someone is, how well or poorly they perform, on a range of characteristics in relation to the average scores and performances of the general population.