Occupational Stress & its Management

1. Occupational Stress & its Management Prof. Parul Rishi, PhD(Psychology) Indian Institute of Forest Management Bhopal. drparulrishi@gmail.com

2. Some Questions??? 1. Do you become easily overwhelmed by the amount of cases you need to manage or decide or hear each day? 2. Do you tend to blow up several times throughout the day in the court/office, even in situations not requiring such drastic response? 3. Are you constantly exhausted but still unable to get a good night’s sleep? 4. Do you feel worried, even about things that are completely outside your control? Dr.Parul Rishi/Stress/

3. Probably, you are under stress ???

4. AN UNMENTIONABLE TOPIC in Judiciary • Life in the courts can be a stressful business . • The very mention of the topic causes stress . • Yet stress is a subject which no one is supposed to admit as Judicial officers have been in a traditionally stress denying profession. • Conventional disinclination to recognize and to speak openly about this unmentionable topic. • Recent studies have shown that lawyers and judges are amongst the traditional professions most likely to suffer from "alarming" levels of tension , depression and stress. • Stress should come out of the judicial closet. Bringing stress out into the open will be good for us all.

5. What Do You Mean by the Term Stress? Too much work and too little time to do it; Being unable to cope; A feeling of anxiety Too much pressure; Feeling tired and irritable Emotional pressure Dr.Parul Rishi/Stress/NITTTR

6. Stress “General Adaptation Syndrome” G. A. S. ...our physiological and psychological response to situations that threaten or challenge us and that require some kind of adjustment. Dr.Parul Rishi/Stress/NITTTR

7. General Adaptation Syndrome Stressor ...a demand placed on the body that requires adjustment and brings about the stress reaction. G. A. S. 3 Stages: 1. Alarm(Fight vs.Flight 2. Resistance 3. Exhaustion Healthy Adaptation or Illness Dr.Parul Rishi/Stress/NITTTR

8. Lazarus’s Cognitive Theory Stressor Selye assumed that stress depended only on the intensity of the stressor. Lazarus proposed that a mental process determines whether stress occurs. Appraisal G. A. S. Healthy Adaptation or Illness Dr.Parul Rishi/Stress/

9. Types of Stress Eustress Distress Dr.Parul Rishi/Stress/NITTTR

10. Stress & Performance Peak Performance Burn Out Zone Rust Zone Dr.Parul Rishi/Stress

11. Stress vs.Balloon Dr.Parul Rishi/Stress/NITTTR

12. An Unfilled Balloon Dr.Parul Rishi/Stress/NITTTR

13. Balloon with some Air Dr.Parul Rishi/Stress/NITTTR

14. Fully Blown up Balloon Dr.Parul Rishi/Stress/NITTTR

15. Balloon is BurstPermanent distortion or breakage Dr.Parul Rishi/Stress/NITTTR

16. Sources of Stress Sources at self Sources at home Sources at work Sources from work-home interface Dr.Parul Rishi/Stress/NITTTR

17. Self Generated Sources of Stress I feel overloaded but I still do Extra work. I am people pleaser. I have trouble saying no and over commit my time. I am perfectionist. I Worry all the time. I am Workaholic. Dr.Parul Rishi/Stress/NITTTR

18. Mind vs. Body- A Research based Analysis Research studies catalogue how even a little stress can have wide-ranging effects on the body : Epinephrine, released by the adrenal glands in response to stress, instigates potentially damaging changes in blood cells. Epinephrine triggers blood platelets, the cells responsible for repairing blood vessels, to secrete large quantities of a substance called ATP. In large amounts, ATP can trigger a heart attack or stroke by causing blood vessels to rapidly narrow, thus cutting off blood flow, Thomas Pickering, M.D., a cardiologist at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center.

19. Contd. Other substances released in the stress response impair the body's ability to fight infections. Released by the pituitary gland as part of the stress response, nerve growth factor (NGF )is attracted like a magnet to disease-fighting cells, where it hinders their ability to ward off infections. An immune system thus suppressed can raise susceptibility to colds—or raise the risk of cancer.

20. Contd.. Stress hormones are also implicated in rheumatoid arthritis. The hormone prolactin, released by the pituitary gland in response to stress, triggers cells that cause swelling in joints. In a study of 100 people with rheumatoid arthritis, Kathleen S. Matt, Ph.D., and colleagues at Arizona State University found that levels of prolactin were twice as high among those reporting high degrees of interpersonal stress than among those not stressed.

21. Contd. After being released by the pituitary gland, the stress hormone ACTH can impede production of the body's natural pain relievers, endorphins, leading to a general feeling of discomfort and heightened pain after injury. High levels of ACTH also trigger excess serotonin, now linked to bursts of violent behavior.

22. Judiciary under stress

23. Lack of appreciation • Social isolation and lack of feedback/appreciation- an important source of judicial stress. • Enormous efforts which the judicial officer typically makes in order to be worthy of his/her position remain unappreciated many times. • Chief sources of anxiety because of the judicial duty to handle administrative work to facilitate justice with no sense of completion due to a never-ending flood of cases approaching the court door. • .

24. Personal factors • Features of the personal lives of judicial officers make them vulnerable to stress. • Mid-life "crisis” is a psychological phenomenon usually associated with the death of parents, the departure of children from the home, a deterioration in health with similar developments in the life of a spouse or partner. • These outcomes can manifest themselves in repeated loss of temper in the office; gross delay in the routine tasks; restlessness,incapacityin decision-making and hostility to the world at large.

25. Other Causes • Judicial officers are much more accountable to the public, than they were in earlier times. This is not, of course, necessarily a bad thing. • It adds to pressure when judicial officers are singled out and pilloried in the media for perceived mistakes or departures from popular or media wisdom. • Need for Media liasoning officers for better communication, to the community they serve, But sadly, the media is often interested only in an "angle" or in entertainment . • Being alert, in case the criticism is justified, and they must equally preserve their fidelity to the law and to their own consciences. Judiciary does not march to the drum of media. • Judge today operate in a rapidly changing society and must learn to adapt, even to speedy change. If they are unwilling or unable to accept the changes, stress is bound to result.

26. CHARACTERISTICS OF JUDICIAL STRESS • Cognitive Stress- difficulty of concentration, constant glancing at the clock to be released from a heavily packed day ,lack of interest in the work and a fatalistic belief that every day will be the same, and that nothing I can do, to check this unrelenting workflow and the crushing backlog. • Physical Stress - It might attack the judicial officer's digestion. It might cause nausea, diarrhoea, a sense of agitation, or, in some, an uncontrollable urge to fall asleep or insomnia out of the expected pressure of the next day. • Relationship Stress- In relationships, both inside and outside the court, stress may produce an outburst of temper, an egocentric self-confidence or the pessimism which produces a lack of concern about the cases which are just permitted to wash over the judicial officer, leaving him or her relatively untouched by their pain.

27. Contd.. • These are exaggerated consequences of stress. Most judicial officers absorb it, directing it sometimes to creative activity, imagination and endless innovation, unerring politeness, accuracy and prompt decisions. • But when the cognitive, physical or behavioural outcomes of stress begin to interfere with the judicial performance, then a legitimate interest and an obligation to look for the cure is must.

28. COPING WITH JUDICIAL STRESS • Judicial reaction to stress will depend upon the personality and his or her insight into the existence of stress and ways of coping with it. • The first step to relieve stress in judicial, is to admit its existence to oneself and to close friends. • If stress is creating a problem, find the sources of stress, both in the work environment and in the personal life . • Judge under stress will do well to resist the ego-tempting invitation to join another committee or to serve in some new and worthy public cause which adds to time deprivation. • Yet a deflection of the mind to outside interests, books outside the law, music and theatre, will often be beneficial to those who are stressed.

29. Need to reorganise personal life by transcendental meditation, yoga, relaxation techniques, religion, community,physical exercise, music or any other way. • Some resort to local or overseas travel; others retreat to an intense home life. • Physical responses like cutting down sugar and salt. Vitamin B supplements, reducing the intake of caffeine, nicotine and alcohol, taking adjournments to break the day. Walking out of the court building during the lunch hour. Clearing the mind of law, advocates and litigants with their stressful disputes and endless arguments. • Facilities for physical exercise and relaxation in court building, a meditation room with light music.

30. Initiatives to reduce stress arising from the workload • Major causes of judicial stress - the never-ending workload and the feeling of helplessness in reducing it. • Efficiency is being improved by the provision of better equipment, improved library and research facilities, increased professional staff and better computer-aided listing and case monitoring. • If properly mobilized, these resources can increase the judicial through-put. Doing this may help to reduce judicial stress. • Better technology and regular communication amongst judicial colleagues at all levels of the hierarchy concerning the work, the shared problems and frustrations. • Just speaking of such matters can provide relief.

31. What is needed? Compassion , respect and concern For fellow human beings and Ability to imagine that by position we may be at the other side of the table but actually we are the part of same human race and we are first accountable to humanity at large.

32. Observe the Difference