Frontiers of Health Services Management - Winter 2013 - (Page 6)

the symptoms of chronic stress include frustration, depression, apathy, helplessness, impatience, disengagement, emotional depletion, cynicism, hopelessness, a significant decline in one's professional self-esteem and confidence, feeling overwhelmed, and anhedonia (being unable to experience pleasure). chronic secondary stress is not necessarily from the amount of work, but how the person perceives it, reacts to it, and interacts with the people he or she Take a few moments [at the serves, collaborates with, end of each day] to review and leads. We have found that for the ups, downs, and feeling every healthcare executive "hot spots" of the day. experiencing psychological impairment, at least another dozen or so are starting to manifest the symptoms of chronic or even acute stress. Acute Stress acute stress occurs when a person's personality is destabilized as a result of coming into contact with the severe psychological, physical, and other trauma experienced by others. Hopelessness is fueled and interpersonal relationships become fractured if one does not have a disciplined approach to becoming attuned to these shifts in one's being. One Person's Experience with Acute Stress for more than 30 years, i (rJW) have dealt with an unusual type of darkness. When healthcare executives, physicians, nurses, or international relief workers found themselves on the edge of burnout and when counselors, social workers, or psychologists found themselves losing perspective, i was often called in to consult, mentor, or present information on the topics of resilience, self-care, and the prevention or limitation of secondary stress-the pressures experienced in reaching out to others. the goal in such cases is to aid these helping and healing professionals in regaining a healthy perspective. However, as i state in my book Bounce, i learned that "no matter how professionally prepared we are, we are not immune to the psychological and spiritual dangers that arise in living a full life of involvement with others" (Wicks 2010). in 1994, i conducted a psychological debriefing with some caregivers evacuated from rwanda's bloody civil war. i interviewed them individually and gave them an opportunity to tell their stories. as they related the horrors they had experienced, they seemed to be grateful for the chance to vent. they recounted the details again and again, relating their feelings as well as descriptions of the events that triggered them. their sense of futility, their feelings of guilt, their sense of alienation, their experiences with emotional outbursts all came to the fore. in addition to listening, i gave them handouts on what to possibly expect in the future-problems sleeping, difficulties trusting and relating to others, flashbacks, and the like. as i moved through the process of debriefing and providing information so they could have a frame of reference for understanding their experiences, i thought to myself, "this is going pretty well." then something happened that shifted my whole experience. During one of the final interviews, the relief worker related how certain members of the Hutu tribe raped and dismembered their tutsi foes. Soon, i noticed i was gripping my chair for fear of losing my sense of balance. i was doing what some people call "white-knuckling it." it did not take me long to realize that the terrible stories 6 * f ro ntier s o f h ea lth s e rvic e s m a na g e me nt 30 :2

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Frontiers of Health Services Management - Winter 2013

Frontiers of Health Services Management - Winter 2013
Contents
Editorial
Riding the Dragon: Enhanching Resilient Leadership and Sensible Self-Care in the Healthcare Executive
Managing Resilience by Managing Purpose
Building Organizational and personal Resilience
Resilience: A Responsibility That Can't Be Delegated
Personal Resilience: A Gateway to Organizational Health and Progress
Response from Feature Aurthors

Frontiers of Health Services Management - Winter 2013