Alcoholism

Alcoholism refers the drinking of alcohol to such a degree that major aspects of one's life are seriously and repeatedly interfered with. These aspects include work, school, family relationships, personal safety and health. Alcoholism is considered a disease. It has known physical, psychological and social symptoms. An alcoholic continues to drink even despite the destructive consequences. Alcoholism is serious and progressive. It can be fatal if not treated. Alcoholism is a very complex disorder. An alcoholic who stops drinking for a while is considered recovering, not cured.

A person does not have to drink every day in order to be considered an alcoholic. Likewise, someone who drinks frequently or gets drunk every once and a while is not necessarily and alcoholic. It is possible to abuse alcohol for a short period of time without developing alcoholism. For example, some people may drink abusively during a personal crisis and then resume normal drinking. College students tend to drink more heavily than other age groups.

It is often difficult to distinguish such heavy and abusive drinking from the early stages of alcoholism. How well the person can tolerate giving up alcohol for an extended time and the effects of drinking on the family, friends, work, and health, may indicate the extent of the alcohol problem.

Some common symptoms of alcoholism in the early stages are constant drinking for relief of personal problems, an increase in one's tolerance for alcohol, memory lapses or blackouts while drinking, and an urgent craving for alcohol. In the middle and late phases, dependence on alcohol causes tremors and agitation only relievable by alcohol.

Most likely, a combination of biological, psychological, and cultural factors contribute to the development of alcoholism in any individual. Alcoholism often seems to run in families.

Although there is no conclusive indication of the alcoholic family member is associated, studies show that 50 to 80 percent of all alcoholics have had a close alcoholic relative. Some researchers believe that one inherits an addiction for alcohol. Studies on animals and twins seem to support this theory. One study suggests that a susceptibility to alcoholism may be linked to a gene on chromosome eleven.

Alcoholism may also be related to emotional problems. For example, alcoholism is sometimes associated with a family history of maniac-depression. Some alcoholics have used alcohol medicate a depressive disorder. Alcoholics commonly drown their depressed or anxious feelings with alcohol. Some may drink to reduce inhibitions or negative feelings. Many alcoholics share experiences of loneliness, frustration, or anxiety but there is no single personality type that will become an alcoholic.

Alcoholism is a complex disorder for which a combination of treatments may be necessary for recovery. If the alcoholic is in the acute phase of alcoholism and is suffering from complications such as delirium tremens or serious health problems, hospitalization may be necessary. Because alcoholism is a chronic condition however, hospitalization is only the first step toward recovery.

Many alcoholics go through several hospital stays of detoxification, before committing themselves to a program for recovery. A comprehensive treatment plan can include various facilities. Facilities are available in most cities. No one can make an alcoholic commit himself to recovery. Some therapists suggest, however, that family members may influence the alcoholics by not supporting drinking activities, by seeking therapy for themselves, and not joining the alcoholic's denial of the problem. The involvement of family members can aid the progress of recovery.

Introduction to Depression

Depression is often used to describe someone who is feeling low about themselves at the moment, when in reality it is a whole lot more than that. It is a total body illness that no mater how hard a person try to talk them selves out of it they still feel bad. It can effect a person in every aspect of their life from home to work to their social life.

Depression is thought to be caused by a combination of factors including genetic, psychological, and environmental ones. It can be caused by living a stressful life or just living a bad life, but it doesn't have to be. It also occurs in all economic classes with about the same consistency. There are often times now clues as to what triggered the onset of the depression. About fifteen million Americans a year are faced with the illness.

Depression effects the thinking of the person who has it so they are often not aware that they are suffering from it. Thus the family is often forced to acted upon it before they sufferer even knows they have a problem. It is important that the family does act one in because the number one cause of suicide is depression that went untreated.

The signs of depression that one should be on the look out for in a suspected sufferer include: hopelessness, sadness, inability to make decisions, inability to concentrate, sudden weight changes, constant complaining, and many others. The treatment for such sufferers often include talk therapy and a prescription for antidepressants.

The most important think that can be done for some one facing a depression is for their friends and family to be there for them. 80- 90% of those faced with depression can be helped but they can¹t beat it alone.

HOW TO COPE WITH STRESS IN AN ORGANIZATION

Since the beginning of mankind there has always been some kind of stress affecting how people feel, act and cope with situations. In this paper we will look at the definition of stress and what causes people to have stress. Then we will see how different people handle stress and show how not all individuals have the same tolerance for stress. The next thing that will be discussed is how managers in organizations can recognize and reduce the negative effects that stress has on the worker and the organization. Finally we will consider what kind of stresses there are in military organizations and how they can be controlled.

DEFINING STRESS

Robert C. Dailey, in his book Understanding People In Organizations, defines stress as "any demand made on the body that requires psychological or physical adjustment." Many people think of stress as always being something bad. However, stress sometimes can be good. Stress is part of our every day life. It can have a motivating effect or a demotivating effect. Each of us have our own level of how much stimulation or stress we need in our lives to keep us from getting bored. Others however, have a much lower tolerance for stress stimuli. So managers must be able to look at each individual and decide if the individual has a high or low tolerance for stress. Managers can do this only if they have a good understanding of what causes stress.

TYPES OF STRESS

Stress can come from a multitude of different reasons, but for simplicity lets break it down into two forms: individual induced stress and physical environment stress. Individual stress includes things such as role conflict, role ambiguity, work overload, and responsibility for others. Role conflict occurs when accomplishing one job inhibits or greatly reduces the chance at completing another assigned task. In this case the person who is tasked to do the jobs will incur some type of stress while trying to figure out how to get both tasks accomplished in the given amount of time. How much stress and if it will impact the individual positively or negatively will depend on the experience level of the individual. Role ambiguity is when an individual is not sure of what their job entails. It makes it hard for a person to decide on what their priorities are and how to manage their time. Ambiguity can come from a number of different things. A transfer, promotion, new boss, or new co-workers can all cause an individual to experience some type of role ambiguity and added stress. Both role conflict and role ambiguity relate to job dissatisfaction, lower level of self-confidence, and sometimes elevated blood pressures. When these occur an individual's motivation decreases, family problems surface, and depression sets in.

Another form of individual induced stress is work overload. There are two forms of work overload: quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative occurs when a person has too many things to accomplish and not enough time to do them in. Qualitative overload on the other hand is when the individual doesn't have enough experience or expertise to accomplish the task(s) at hand. Both of these type of stressors are very detrimental to an individual's health. In fact because employees feel as if they are doing two or more jobs at once and have no time to themselves they experience elevated cholesterol, blood pressure, and pulse rate.

Another factor which affects employees is when they have or feel they have the responsibility for other co-workers. This can happen not only to managers but also to other employees who may be group leaders or even union leader. When you start adding up all of these individual responsibilities the potential for employees having some sort of job related stress is very high. Now lets move on to physical work environment stressors.

When people think of physical work environment they usually think of some type of hard labor. But its not confined only to physical labor, it also encompasses other factors such as noise, temperature, lighting, and pollution. So that means even people in business and people in construction both have some kind of physical work environment stressors. Stress from noise doesn't have to be caused from loud sounds. It could be the sound of the air conditioner or maybe even the silence of some one who is sitting next to you and you know they are watching what you do. Temperature also adds to frustration and therefore causes stress. Whether its from working out in the blazing sun or from sitting beside the air conditioner, they both can lead to stressful situations. Light can cause stress because of being to high, to low, or the wrong type. Any of these can make a person strain their eyes thus make them more susceptible to stress. When you put all the individual and physical stressors together you can see why job stress is drawing more and more attention.

RECOGNIZING STRESS

The best way to learn how to notice signs of stress in other people is to become aware of your own types of symptoms. There are many warning signs available to us. A few of them include dryness of the mouth, insomnia, chest pain with no known cause, rapid breathing, stomach pain, and changes in appetite. When you feel these type of symptoms pay attention to how you react to them. More than likely what you do will probably be the same way others cope with stress. Here are some of the things you might not see in your self that you might notice in your co-workers; drug use, excessive drinking, absenteeism, and emotional outbursts. One of the more serious stress-related sickness is depression. This happens when a person loses their self-esteem and they feel that they have no control over their job. Two signs associated with depression are the inability to meet deadlines and having trouble making decisions while at the same time worrying about both of them excessively. Managers need to be able to recognize these signs of stress in the work place so productivity won't be hurt and the quality of life for the employees remain high.

What exactly can be done about stress? The most important thing that organizations can do is try to keep stress at a minimum on the job. Employers need to make sure that they educate their employees about how to handle stress. This can be in done at a formal meeting, at informal group meetings, or by newsletter. The main thing is to get the word out about stress and heighten individuals awareness of it. There are many avenues to take that help relieve stress. Physical fitness, nutrition, weight loss, and smoking programs are some of the more popular ways to help ward off stress. One way that employers are responding to employees' emotional, physical, and personal problems are employee assistance programs(EAP). These programs are set up by the employer with a local medical organization that has the capability of helping employees that have some type of problem whether it be drug dependency, alcoholism or smoking. The employer in these programs pay for part or all the expenses of the program.

Another way organizations are helping their employees to deal with stress are wellness programs. Many organizations are using these programs and are reporting great results from them. Companies are beginning to realize that programs dealing with stress-related problems before they become chronic can be a major contributor to the quality of work life for employees thus enhancing their job performance. Some companies spend millions of dollars each year on wellness programs. One company even paid their employees bonus' for any weight they lost. Although these programs sound like they cost a lot they actually save companies money in the long run. This is because of several factors some of which are less hospital stays, less health insurance claims, reduced accidents rates, and increased employee satisfaction. All of these lead to a more productive individual and better work force.

One other aspect of reducing stress deals with specific behavioral techniques for mental relaxation. These are brought out in stress management courses that some companies let their employees attend. They focus their attention on the concept that the central nervous system can't differentiate between a real experience and an imagined experience. These classes teach things like deep breathing, muscle relaxation, biofeedback, and how stress can affect them personally and what they can do about it. In today's society where pressures are becoming more and more extreme organizations, leaders, and managers need to be aware of the stress that their work force encounters and set up some type of program to help them deal with them.

HOW TO HANDLE STRESS

Although every person handles stress in their own particular way they all basically go through the same stages. Professor Hans Selye called these stages the 'general adaptation syndrome'.5 He says that the body adjust to stress in three stages; (1) alarm reaction, (2) adaptation, and (3) exhaustion. Alarm reaction is where a person first becomes aware of whatever the stressor is. In this stage the body activates its defensives. Some of the notable traits are higher blood pressure, rapid breathing, faster heart rate, and muscle tension. In the adaptation stage the body tries to identify which system it needs to use to deal with the long term effect of what ever is causing stress. Then the body moves into the exhaustion stage. This is where the body is totally depleted of its adaptive energy. The body also can revert back to the symptoms of the alarm reaction stage. From having a basic understanding of how a person's body reacts to stress, managers have a better insight on what to look for when trying to figure out what the limits are of their personnel.



We have taken a look at what the definition of stress and some of the causes of stress in the work place. It is important to try and reduce these causes as much as possible so that employees won't get any stress related symptoms. Also it was stated how a persons' body reacts when it encounters stress. Then the signs of stress that managers need to look for were discussed. After that some of the ways organizations can help it employees manage stress were looked at. Finally, it was shown how the military is handling stress among its members. As the world gets more diverse stress in the work force will continue to grow. It is imperative for managers and leaders to be able to recognize stress, understand its causes, and know how to alleviate it in their organizations so that it can continue to grow and be productive.

Introduction to Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Understanding the Narcissistic Phenomenon

The so called ‘narcissistic personality disorder’ is a complex and often misunderstood disorder. The cardinal feature of the narcissistic personality is the grandiose sense of self importance, but paradoxically underneath this grandiosity the narcissist suffers from a chronically fragile low self esteem. The grandiosity of the narcissist, however, is often so pervasive that we tend to dehumanize him or her. The narcissist conjures in us images of the mythological character Narcissus who could only love himself, rebuffing anyone who attempted to touch him. Nevertheless, it is the underlying sense of inferiority which is the real problem of the narcissist, the grandiosity is just a facade used to cover the deep feelings of inadequacy.

The Makeup of the Narcissistic Personality

The narcissist’s grandiose behavior is designed to reaffirm his or her sense of adequacy. Since the narcissist is incapable of asserting his or her own sense of adequacy,the narcissist seeks to be admired by others. However, the narcissist’s extremely fragile sense of self worth does not allow him or her to risk any criticism. Therefore, meaningful emotional interactions with others are avoided. By simultaneously seeking the admiration of others and keeping them at a distance the narcissist is usually able to maintain the illusion of grandiosity no matter how people respond. Thus, when people praise the narcissist his or her grandiosity will increase, but when criticized the grandiosity will usually remain unaffected because the narcissist will devalue the criticizing person.

Akhtar (1989) [as cited in Carson & Butcher, 1992; P. 271] discusses six areas of pathological functioning which characterize the narcissist.

In particular, four of these narcissistic character traits best illustrate the pattern discussed above.

(1) a narcissistic individual has a basic sense of inferiority, which underlies a preoccupation with fantasies of outstanding achievement;
(2) a narcissistic individual is unable to trust and rely on others and thus develops numerous, shallow relationships to extract tributes from others;
(3) a narcissistic individual has a shifting morality-always ready to shift values to gain favor; and
(4) a narcissistic person is unable to remain in love, showing an impaired capacity for a committed relationship.

Levels of Narcissism

The most extreme form of narcissism involves the perception that no separation exists between the self and the object. The object is viewed as an extension of the self, in the sense that the narcissist considers others to be a merged part of him or her. Usually, the objects which the narcissist chooses to merge with represent that aspect of the narcissist’s personality about which feelings of inferiority are perceived. For instance if a narcissist feels unattractive he or she will seek to merge with someone who is perceived by the narcissist to be attractive. At a slightly higher level exists the narcissist who acknowledges the separateness of the object, however, the narcissist views the object as similar to himself or herself in the sense that they share a similar psychological makeup. In effect the narcissist perceives the object as ‘just like me’. The most evolved narcissistic personality perceives the object to be both separate and psychologically different, but is unable to appreciate the object as a unique and separate person. The object is thus perceived as useful only to the extent of its ability to aggrandize the false self (Manfield, 1992).

Types of narcissism

Pending the perceived needs of the environment a narcissist can develop in one of two directions. The individual whose environment supports his or her grandiosity, and demands that he or she be more than possible will develop to be an exhibitionistic narcissist. Such an individual is told ‘you are superior to others’, but at the same time his or her personal feelings are ignored. Thus, to restore his or her feelings of adequacy the growing individual will attempt to coerce the environment into supporting his or her grandiose claims of superiority and perfection. On the other hand, if the environment feels threatened by the individual’s grandiosity it will attempt to suppress the individual from expressing this grandiosity. Such an individual learns to keep the grandiosity hidden from others, and will develop to be a closet narcissist. The closet narcissist will thus only reveal his or her feelings of grandiosity when he or she is convinced that such revelations will be safe (Manfield, 1992)

Narcissistic Defense Mechanisms

Narcissistic defenses are present to some degree in all people, but are especially pervasive in narcissists. These defenses are used to protect the narcissist from experiencing the feelings of the narcissistic injury. The most pervasive defense mechanism is the grandiose defense. Its function is to restore the narcissist’s inflated perception of himself or herself. Typically the defense is utilized when someone punctures the narcissist’s grandiosity by saying something which interferes with the narcissist’s inflated view of himself or herself. The narcissist will then experience a narcissistic injury similar to that experienced in childhood and will respond by expanding his or her grandiosity, thus restoring his or her wounded self concept. Devaluation is another common defense which is used in similar situations. When injured or disappointed the narcissist can respond by devaluing the ‘offending’ person. Devaluation thus restores the wounded ego by providing the narcissist with a feeling of superiority over the offender. There are two other defense mechanisms which the narcissist uses. The self-sufficiency defense is used to keep the narcissist emotionally isolated from others. By keeping himself or herself emotionally isolated the narcissist’s grandiosity can continue to exist unchallenged. Finally, the manic defense is utilized when feelings of worthlessness begin to surface. To avoid experiencing these feelings the narcissist will attempt to occupy himself or herself with various activities, so that he or she has no time left to feel the feelings (Manfield, 1992).

The Therapeutic Essence of Treating Narcissism

The narcissist who enters therapy does not think that there is something wrong with him or her. Typically, the narcissist seeks therapy because he or she is unable to maintain the grandiosity which protects him or her from the feelings of despair. The narcissist views his or her situation arising not as a result of a personal maladjustment; rather it is some factor in the environment which is beyond the narcissist’s control which has caused his or her present situation. Therefore, the narcissist expects the therapist not to ‘cure’ him or her from a problem which he or she does not perceive to exist, rather the narcissist expects the therapist to restore the protective feeling of grandiosity. It is therefore essential for the therapist to be alert to the narcissists attempts to steer therapy towards healing the injured grandiose part, rather than exploring the underlying feelings of inferiority and despair.