Aug 13, 2007 8:00 AM

'Sometimes it's just too much': solutions for stress

"I get headaches and am beset by worries," said Alice, a UCLA graduate student. "I pace frantically … want to escape from the stressful situation in which I find myself but don't know how."

"Working full-time while also taking care of my sick father and two teenage kids — sometimes it's just too much," said Sharon, a staff member. "I would get neck and back pain so badly I'd have to lie down."

Alice and Sharon (not their real names) suffer from the modern-day malady that is stress. It's everywhere — at home, in traffic jams, in the frantic pace of 21st-century life and the demands of the workplace and classroom. Pressure-cooker conditions can take a toll on faculty, staff and students, say campus mental health practitioners. Fortunately, guidance is available to help alleviate the pressures of daily life.

At the Staff and Faculty Counseling Center (SFCC), workplace stress "is the number-one reason why people come to see us," said psychologist Jorge Cherbosque, who co-directs the center with Nan Levine-Mann, a licensed clinical social worker.

Stress can lead to anger or even violence. In 2005-06, the center provided staff at three departments with support after outbreaks of anger or violence in the workplace. "While the incidences of violence have decreased," Levine-Mann said, "the awareness and concern about violence or the potential for violence have increased."

Escalating stress among students is a national phenomenon. Reports in the media and in medical literature show an increase in mental health problems nationwide in college-age people over the last three decades. Last fall, the UC Office of the President Student Health Committee released a report showing a 23% rise over a period of five years in the number of students using counseling centers at eight UC campuses.

UCLA's Student Psychological Services (SPS) works with about 4,000 students a year, half of whom are diagnosed as moderately to severely depressed or anxious, according to Director Elizabeth Gong-Guy, a psychologist. Pressures are especially intense among graduate and professional school students, she said.

SPS offers the services of a stress clinic, along with individual treatment, group therapy, workshops and a 24-hour hotline manned by a licensed therapist.

Grad student Alice visited the stress clinic when her academics began to suffer. "I was having difficulty getting assignments done, problems concentrating and negative self-thoughts," she said.

In a cognitive therapy group, she became aware of those events that tended to call up strong emotions for her. She also learned to put the brakes on being self-critical and "catastrophizing" situations. Today, she said, she no longer worries about little things and has a better handle on procrastination and perfectionism.

Faculty and staff have access to mental health professionals at SFCC for in-depth stress screenings, followed by counseling, skills-training and even a calming biofeedback system to help take the edge off.

Levine-Mann explained that people tend to approach stress in one of two ways. "Stress-resistant" people deal with ambiguity well and have the resilience to deal with whatever life presents, while "stress-vulnerable" types have unreasonable expectations, don't pace themselves and desperately try to control things outside their realm.

Sressed-out staffer Sharon worked with a counselor at SFCC to become more stress-resistant by, she said, becoming more realistic about her responsibilities to others as well as to herself. Her problems with muscle tension are relieved by a new exercise regimen. And whenever she finds the time, she indulges in a relaxing session in the center's biofeedback machine.

One of UCLA's newest offerings for dealing with stress, albeit one that has been in practice for thousands of years, is mindful awareness training, offered by the Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC) of UCLA's Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. Education Director Diana Winston describes this practice as "a deliberate effort to bring your focus into an exact moment. Turning your attention inside, becoming aware of your mind and body and stopping to simply take a breath can really alleviate any stressful situation."

Anthony Estes, a Ph.D. student in anthropology, met Winston at a retreat and now assists her in MARC workshops.

"As a graduate student in the challenging sciences and humanities area," Estes said, "there is no shortage of stress. Mindful awareness has helped me remain at ease during high-tension times, increased my capacity to remember details during classes and cram sessions, and even helped in decreasing the fear I have about certain things in life."

And while Levine-Mann emphasized that stress is a universal epidemic and is unavoidable, seeking to create a life that gives one purpose and meaning can also help.

"Study after study shows that people who are passionate about life and lead a joyful existence are happier and healthier," she said.

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