Friday September 21, 2001

Director, Counseling and Psychological Services

Campus Health Service

Editor's Note: In an attempt to keep the Arizona Daily Wildcat's Perspectives section as an open forum, the Wildcat welcomes guest commentaries. Ken Marsh is UA's director of Counseling and Psychological Services.

The events of Sept. 11 produced incredible stress for the entire UA community. We have never experienced events like those, and they were horrible. We responded well as a community. We talked with each other, expressed thoughts and feelings on the reaction boards on the Mall, met with each other and encouraged each other.

Over the coming weeks, all of us - faculty, staff and students - will continue to experience personal stress reactions. Acute reactions to stress are both normal and expected. Each of us needs to know what to expect.

Stress is not simply a psychological concept. It affects us physically, mentally and emotionally.

Physical reactions often include feelings of fatigue and exhaustion, sleep disturbances, like insomnia; changes in appetite that can lead to weight gain or loss; muscle tension, like neck and shoulder tightness; headaches; gastro-intestinal problems, like upset stomach, and a general loss of energy.

Mental/Cognitive reactions include difficulty concentrating, difficulty solving problems, difficulty making decisions, memory disturbances, wandering attention, mental preoccupation with the events, and experiencing angry or violent fantasies. Obviously, these cognitive reactions directly affect academic work and challenge us to try to balance periods of work-focus with periods of letting ourselves feel and be distracted and upset.

Emotional reactions include a kaleidoscope of changing moods. Common experiences include feeling emotionally numb, feelings of intense sadness and grief, anger, helplessness or hopelessness about things ever changing, fears and anxieties about the future, impulses to run away or avoid and being generally irritable (and feeling guilty about it).

These are predictable reactions to high stress.

Experiencing these reactions is not a sign of weakness. The reactions can be unpleasant, even painful, but they are also signs of our humanity.

Many of us don't like to have strong feelings without also wanting to do something about them. In these past two weeks we have done a number of things. Many gave blood. Many made donations of money and time. Many gathered with friends, family, and colleagues to talk and share. Many prayed.

The central element is that we seem to want to be able to do something with our feelings. Simply wishing them away doesn't work.

Emotions need expression. Stifle their expression and they grow more intense. Find an appropriate avenue of expression and the intensity diminishes.

The key question is, what are some appropriate things to do? Here is a partial list:

1. Stay connected with others, including family, friends, clergy, a valued professor or teaching assistant or resident assistant. Talk about your feelings, fears and uncertainties. Talk about your hopes, plans and goals for the future.

2. Get some physical exercise several times a week... it helps burn off stress.

3. Grant yourself periods of self-soothing every dayˇ soothing music, meditation, prayer, journaling, quiet time alone or with a friend - whatever works for you.

4. Structure your time. Remain active, even though it may sometimes feel like you are "just going through the motions." And structure in some down time, too.

5. If you are tempted to numb your emotional pain with drugs or alcohol, rethink it.

6. Give non-verbal expression to how you feel, through art, movement or music.

7. Reach out and help someone else express his or her feelingsˇreach out to "turtles" who pull into themselves and try to handle these feelings on their own.

8. Show your solidarity with others. Reach out with a phone call. Ask someone how he or she is doing.

The list of things to do should also include some periods of not doing. Stress can stimulate personal reflection about values and priorities in our lives, and those moments of reflection can teach us important things about ourselves.

If you think your reactions are exaggerated compared to others, or if these suggestions just don't help, contact a counselor, who can help you find something that does work.

On-campus resources include, for students: Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), second floor in Campus Health, 621-3334; and for faculty and staff: Life and Work Connections, 1533 E. Helen St., 621-2493.