REACTION - NOT STRESS REAL CULPRIT

STRESS!

It's like the plague to most people. That creeping, uptight nervous tension should be avoided at almost any cost.

Or so the conventional wisdom goes.

But, according to Dr. Hans Selye, world recognized authority on stress and anxiety, stress itself is not bad for people - it's only the negative psychological reaction to it that causes discomfort.

"We must remember there is also the stress of fulfilment: of creation, of doing any thing good.

KEY IS MASTERY

"The key to dealing with stress - which is an inevitable condition of life - is to master it, utilize it to do constructive things for yourself and humanity."

Dr. Seyle, director of the Institute For Experimental Medicine And Surgery at McGill University, was the keynote speaker at the opening session of Conference 74, the annual conference of the Ontario Children's Aid Societies.

Dr. Selye, whose latest book is Stress Without Distress, told more than 1,700 representatives that it took 40 years to formulate a definition of stress acceptable to scientists of all nations.

"We finally decided at a meeting of the World Health Congress a few years ago that stress is the non-specific response of the body to any demand made upon it.

"And that demand can be pleasant or unpleasant; only the intensity is relevant. As I always say, the lash of the whicp and a passionate kiss can be equally stressful. All that matters is the impression made on the mind and the individual's reaction to it."

Dr. Selye expanded on his theory by saying that many physical diseases could be eliminated if human beings could learn to control their psychological reaction to them.

"Often it's not the disease itself that causes a person discomfort, but his over-reaction, his acute sensitivity to the pollen. If we could prevent people from defending themselves so adamantly against a foreign agent, we could lessen the resultant stresses".

Although he emphasized that his lifelong work has been devoted only to the biochemical basis of stress, Dr. Selye said he has developed a "code of ethics" that can help sideroad stress.

TOLERANCE OF SELVES

Individuals must first develop a stress situation and a tolerance of themselves. "You can be a turtle or a racehorse: your biological makeup will determine that. But you must allow yourself the freedom to do your own thing and life will be less stressful.

"Secondly, develop a worthwhile aim in you life to which the energy stress creates can be directed."

Although Dr. Selye emphasized that he was an atheist, he said he believed in the biblical code of "love thy neighbor as thyself."

THE TORONTO DAILY STAR

DON SAYS: Stress and the control of it is very important for the recovering alcoholic. I personally have had stress and panic attacks while drinking and also in my recovering period. I found that, as time passed and I maintained my sobriety, stress became less of an issue, and I learned to relax, and take things as they come. I personally had to change my level of stress by leaving my principal employer, a national bank. I learned that I could not cope with the demands without a drink. I think I could now go back to my previous employer and handle the stress on the job in a satisfactory way, but in all things we cannot go back and change the past.

I hope that anyone reading this blog will realize that it is a gut wrenching event quitting drinking, but it must be done to ensure your survival. And though the road to complete sobriety can be rocky it can be done, and you will be a much better over-all person for it. GOOD LUCK!