Health Matters: Stress Management, Essay Example

Introduction

In a discussion running approximately thirty minutes, Dr. David Granet speaks to Dr. Steven D. Hickman, a highly respected psychiatrist and leading advocate of mindfulness-based approaches to stress relief. Not surprisingly, they talk about stress, and with a focus on Hickman’s methods of treating it with his patients. The two doctors converse in a natural, non-academic manner, and this social component helps to make the subject accessible to the viewer.

While briefly touching upon Hickman’s particular coursework with patients and his distinctive style of treating people suffering from stress due to chronic pain, the conversation largely addresses the subject in very general terms. Both doctors relate the factors of stress and its effects on a human being as these things affect virtually everyone. Examples, in fact, from each doctor’s own life are brought up to illustrate how stress is a universal issue, and one we all must learn to effectively manage.

Key Components

The discussion begins as may be expected: Granet introduces the topic of stress by referring to how universal a factor it is in modern life, and to virtually everyone. He goes on to address how the medical community has, in the past, dealt with the dichotomy between the mind and the body, as he emphasizes how medical attention has viewed one or the other as being chiefly, if not wholly, deserving of greater interest. In very little time, both Hickman and Granet completely agree that, as there can be no real dichotomy between mind and body, only a balanced approach can best serve a person.

Early in the dialogue, Hickman discusses how he has found that a focused, meditative approach to stress has proven to be useful for his patients. Granet immediately suggests that there seems to be a spiritual basis to this, and Hickman does not disagree. Hickman’s mode of treatment is, as he himself freely relates, tied to Buddhist principles of seeking inner peace and directing attention upon a specific issue. He refers to yoga postures and exercises, yet he adds that these elements are by no means necessary to relieve stress.

The thrust of the conversation is a compatible, and very practical, overview of how stress is created by people, either those suffering from chronic pain or merely in everyday life. Hickman makes his case in a very direct, non-intimidating, and common-sense style; he draws attention to the basic fact that people greatly add to their stress by interpreting the pain or the circumstances surrounding it in certain ways. He never discounts how severe physical pain is not a substantial issue in itself, but his point is that, through anticipation and a variety of other emotional responses, we tend to add the stress, or “distress”, element to it ourselves.

Most clearly promoted by Hickman is his concept that, rather than try to separate attention or focus from the pain or issue, people must face each as it actually is, and in the present moment. He jokingly refers to famous styles of psychology which endorse a patient’s distancing; he mentions, several times, the “imagine yourself on a sunny beach” scenario. Hickman believes, rather, that listening to what the body is saying, as well as confronting it directly, is the best means of alleviating stress. Not surprisingly, Granet supports these views.

Discussion of the Views Expressed

Upon first viewing the video, there is a positive feeling generated. For one thing, the two doctors discuss the situation in an agreeable, easily accessible way, and this adds a measure of trust and comfort. Then, the simplicity of Hickman’s medical philosophy is hard to dispute. Essentially, he maintains that we are all enormously empowered to ease our own burdens, provided we lose the complicated and harmful preoccupations standing in the way. We ourselves are guilty of associating other issues with a situation or an illness, and greatly render either much more difficult than they need be.

In one example – and Hickman likes to employ vivid illustrations, to make his point – he describes the classic scenario of being stuck in traffic while late for an appointment. In a compelling way, he breaks down the scenario so that only the reality of the circumstance itself is seen as an isolated occurrence leading to the added stress. The traffic is a simple reality; in projecting problems because of it, we manufacture levels of stress that need never occur.

While this is certainly a valid observation, there remains a dichotomy in the discussion of the doctors not related to that of the mind versus the body. That is, although Hickman and Granet continually refer to instances of both pain-related stress and that brought on by normal living, there seems to be no greater emphasis on dealing with the former. This is a troubling omission.

It is a good thing, and a helpful one, that Hickman recommends a new viewpoint for people experiencing normal stress. Stress itself, as Granet enthusiastically remarks, is something virtually everyone claims to suffer from, and Hickman’s advice is sensible, logical, and timely. The problem arises when real, chronic physical pain is the issue. Both men do not, again, ignore that reality as a stress-producing agent, yet there does not appear to be enough of a distinction made between it and ordinary stress. In listening to the doctors discuss both issues in a way almost interchangeable, there is a feeling that pain and disease are not being given sufficient attention.

For example, Hickman talks about a patient of his suffering from fibromyalgia. This woman was using yoga exercises as a means of dealing with the intense pain of the disease, and she found herself unwilling to do her yoga at home because she felt her body could not do it. In Hickman’s class, however, and with the same degree of discomfort, she did it, and was astonished at how this change of scene enabled her. With the doctor there and with peer encouragement, she felt less frightened, or was more inspired to try.

Hickman brings this up to illustrate how much unsuspected power we have, in easing our own pain and stress. The point is valid. However, there is physical pain, and there is physical pain, and Hickman does not venture into how stress from really crippling pain can be helped, except in these broad terms of a greater psychological effort made.

Hickman is a respected doctor, and clearly widely acknowledged in his field. Moreover, as he makes evident, many of his patients are referred to him by anesthesiologists, indicating how his patient base must be at least partially made up of those suffering from real illnesses. Generally, though, his approach appears to be better directed at a mainstream population not confronting actual disease. This is not to say that his methods may not be extremely helpful, or that patients in physical pain do not benefit from the greater focus and awareness of the sheer physical element of the pain he recommends. It is more that there is a sense that stress from disease is being inappropriately mixed in with average, normal living stress.

It is inescapably true that, if modern life is not actually bringing on more stress in our lives, we are all greatly prone to either feeling or generating it. Stress is, as Granet states, universal; everyone claims to suffer from it, to one degree or another. In this regard, Hickman’s approach is beautifully sound. As he says, nobody has to be a practicing Buddhist, or sit chanting for hours in a yoga position, to meditate on what is going on with them and, in isolating it, diffuse its power to cause stress. He does endorse meditation, as part of the “mindfulness” state of being he promotes, but he is happy to leave the methods to the individual.

This is excellent advice, despite the seemingly obvious nature of it. Hickman arrives at just the right time in our culture, to remind us of what, on a deep level, we know: stress is what we make when we project from a situation, and add to it. Rather than calmly assess the reality in front of us, we tend to immediately anticipate further dilemmas, almost as though we seek to cause our own distress. In this everyday regard, Hickman’s remarks are to the point, sound, and helpful.

That notwithstanding, the feeling remains that he would generate greater respect if he acknowledged that there must be severe limits to his approach when chronic pain is the stress-producing agent. As noted, early in the discussion the two men come to the conclusion that no treatment of any kind can be effective if it does not admit to there being no real dichotomy between mind and body. That accepted, however, it must also be recognized that there are cases when the issues of the one present problems not readily eased by the other. The techniques of focus and awareness that may well remove completely the stress of the person stuck in traffic may be only mildly helpful to the person undergoing great stress from arthritis pain.

As Hickman deals with such patients, it would have been more interesting, and a more substantial boost to his credibility, if he actually discussed the limits he has encountered in applying his methods. Such limits must exist, as they also must not be restricted to a patient’s ability to redirect his focus, or meditate. His viewpoints would be more rewarding if he delved into the barriers he has encountered, as he attempts to ease stress and pain through psychological methods.

This lack notwithstanding, Hickman promotes the developing of attitudes and approaches most people would certainly find beneficial. His viewpoint is strong; as we enable our own stress levels, we are equally empowered to diminish, or even remove, them. In terms of a broad, realistic means of addressing ordinary stress, Hickman’s ideas and modes are both appealing and consistently sensible.