Introduction
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Methods of Coping & Cure
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Information
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Related Links
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Self Help
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Symptoms
Causes
Coping Skills
Burnout
Stress at work is a relatively new phenomenon of modern lifestyles. The nature of work has gone through drastic changes over the last century and it is still changing at whirlwind speed. They have touched almost all professions, starting from an artist to a surgeon, or a commercial pilot to a sales executive. With change comes stress, inevitably. Professional stress or job stress poses a threat to physical health. Work related stress in the life of organized workers, consequently, affects the health of organizations.
What's It?
Job stress is a chronic disease caused by conditions in the workplace that negatively affect an individual's performance and/or overall well-being of his body and mind. One or more of a host of physical and mental illnesses manifests job stress. In some cases, job stress can be disabling. In chronic cases a psychiatric consultation is usually required to validate the reason and degree of work related stress.
Working on a project on stress at work, Andy Ellis, Ruskin College, Oxford, UK, has shown in a chart how stress can adversely affect an employee's performance. In the early stages job stress can 'rev up' the body and enhance performance in the workplace, thus the term 'I perform better under pressure'. However, if this condition is allowed to go unchecked and the body is revved up further, the performance ultimately declines and the person's health degenerates.
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The signs of job stress vary from person to person, depending on the particular situation, how long the individual has been subjected to the stressors, and the intensity of the stress itself. Typical symptoms of job stress can be:
• Insomnia
• Loss of mental concentration,
• Anxiety, stress
• Absenteeism
• Depression,
• Substance abuse,
• Extreme anger and frustration,
• Family conflict
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