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ISBN:9783638575
UGWU, Leonard Ifeanyi
Author 2
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Title
Stress and Psychological Burnout in a
Quasi-Buoyant Economy
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Stress and Psychological Burnout in a
Quasi-Buoyant Economy
Social Sciences
ESUT Journal of Social Sciences
September, 2002
-.
CHAPTER FOUR
STRESS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL BURNOUT IN A QUASI-BUOYAN
ECONOMY
BY LEONARD I. UGWU, PH.D
The phenomenon of stress, inextricably interwoven with life
widespread, It is all-class embracing, as it respects neither sex, a
health condition, colour, economic status nor nationality. There is strc
in the family; in children; in adolescent; and even among
undergraduates. Among those who also experience stress are
executives, the pious, the religious, the superiors and their subordinaf
In fact, stress is very pervasive and has life in all living human beings.
And interestingly, the life span of stress commences and co-extends with
the life span of the victim: terminating only when the life is cornpietely
terminated.
Even the termination of the iife of its victim does not end the life span of
that stress since death itself is stressful to the living.
But one of the fundamental problems of stress is thai it is
characterized by great conceptual diversity. As a result, it lacks precision
in its definition. However, stress has been defined in various ways. Selye
9 9 7 6 ) defined stress as the "non-specific response of the body to any
demand made upon it". These demands which call for our response are
labeled "stressors." Stressors can be found in everything around us such
as our homes, places of work, our interaction with others, and in short, in
any stimulus that places negative or positive demands on us.
Scnnentage, Brodbeck, Heinbokel and Stoke (1998) defined stress as ''a
relationship between the person and the environment thai is appraised by
the person as taxing or exceeding his or her resources and endangering
his or her well-being. This definition by Sonnentag et.al. tends to suppod
earlier definition by McGrath. McGrath (1976) defined stress in teims of
set of conditions involving an interaction of a person and environment
which presents a person with a demand or a cotxtraint or an opporhmity
for behaviour. According to him, stress occurs when an individual
perceives an environmenial demand as being addressed to him or her.
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Journal of Social Scbnces Vol. I
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secondly, this environmental demand should be perceived to be
&stantially out of balance with the individual's capabilities. Lastly,
%:lures to meet the demand should be perceived by the individual as likely
3 result in differentia! rewards or sanctions. But for the purpose of this
:per, the writer defines stress as a subjective experience of feelings
ng&i
when enviranmental stimuli present demands that zre perceived by
the recipients as outweighing his potentials or capabilities for meeting
such demands, particuiarly when substantial differential in terms of
rewards versus sanctions associated with such demands are highly
valued by the focal person.
The above definition by the writer depicts three keys points:
that stress depends on cognitive appraisal (that is, situation
1.
as perceived by the recipient),
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that the environmental demands must outweigh the
individual's capabilities and must be perceived as such, and
3.
that there must be perceived substantial differentials in terms
of rewardslsanct~onsassociated with such demands which
must be highly valued by the focal persgn.
ETQLOGY OF STRESS IN NIGERIAN POLITICAL ECONOMY
Because stress is omnipresent with percolate power (that is, the
power of penetrating tine whole man gradually and distorting the physical,
mental, sociai, and psychological configurations of man) there could be
some temptation for fhe uncritical mind to think that causes of stress in 'A'
could also account for stress in 'B'; after all they may be faced with "the
same" environmental condition. But this is not the case, particularly when
we realized that people appraise a given situation differently.
In Nigerian economiclsccio-political environment, the causes of
stress are bound. Theses include:
unemployment
insecurity of property and life
poiiticzi victimization
Stress and Psvcholoqical Bi
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economic hardship occasioned by non regular payment
*:,
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- - salaries : : .- .
. . achievement overload.= ..,-.
.-.
-.
--.
-- loss of job.
.
- . - - -.fearof uncertainty .
.. ..
divorce
. ,
work overload
- fear of contacting Human-lmmunc-deficiency Virus
political-instability
infertilitylchildlessness
high death rate
The list of potential stressors in our environment is endless bui
purposes of space one has to limit oneself to the above-meniio
factors.
As a way of recapitulation, Nigeria today is experiencing high I aLt.
of inflation, political instability, and embezzlement of public funds such that
inequality and economic depression become the end result. This
condition has retarded the economic, social and political development of
Nigeria as a nation, Life to a common man' is becoming unbearable and
the gap between the 'haves' and the 'have not' continues to widen. This
~r situation has made people in middle and low socio-economic classes to
get involved in multiple roles in order to make ends meet. This situation
has placed over bearing demands to Nigerian citizens as they find it
difficult to satisfy their physiological needs, pay for electricity, water,
telephone and hospital bills and as well maintain the much cherished
extended family relationships.
Although one may argue that Nigerian's present economy is more
buoyant than what obtained during the military era, the current inflationary
trend with its multiplier effects has equalized the seemingly buoyant
economy to the same base line with that of the military era. This apparent
or quasi-buoyant economy has placed many Nigerians into stressful
1
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- stress of trying to achieve what one could not achieve during
litary era (achievement overload); stress arising form ylnrealistic
jet by individuals, and stress of trying to maintain the n'ew status
n
--To aggravate the matter more is the high rate of unemploymen,
5s of jobs. Unemployed youths are in their thousands which place
,,,,,rial demands on the employed as every employed adult has strings
of mouths of dependent and unemployed relatives to feed. The same is
applicable to those who have lost their jobs in the form of forceful
retirement, termination of appointment or dismissals. These conditions
lead to stress as those affected watch helplessly as their children and
dependent relations die of hunger and starvation. To compound the
problem is political instability, which has put both the poor and the rich,
particularly the ruling class, in a state of stress and tension.
Stress also has its own toll in the family. Because family is a
microcosm of a nation, it is also affected by stress. Family is a knot, a
web, a mesh into which relationships are tied and serves as the major
recipient of stress in the macro society. When the family cohesion is
threatened by stress, the consequences are grave. For instance, stress in
the family can lead to marital conflict, aggressive behaviour, child abuse,
and more importantly to personality maladjustment. The fall-out of stress
?n the macro-economy has adversely affected our much cherished
extended family relationship. Uzoka (1995) has also acknowledged that
African family is without doubt extended, in contrast to the widely
orchestrated nation of the nuclear family of a father-offspring of Western
people,
In African context, the family is a social system, which is
composed of sub-systems defined in terms of generation, gender, and
role. The family members, in African context, are health givers who, when
the dynainic of the family are positive, do ensure that family members
(extended relatives inclusive) function successfully. In fact, f m i l y is the
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Stress and Psycholoqical Burnout in a Quasi-Buoyant Economv.
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source of many of our problems as well as the institution, which gives us
the power to handle some stresses arising from outside or within tj-~
system. Some of the sources of stress in the family relationships ;
Nigeria include children's misbehaviour arising from the breakdown cr
norms and values of our social system; death of children occasioned bi(
poverty; infertility and inability to satisfy each other's sexual demands;
multiple role conflict; economic hardship, and fear of contacting Human
immune-deficiency Virus (HIV),
CONSEQUENCES OF STRESS
It must be borne in mind that all the above mentioned potentid
stressors are not stressors until otherwise perceived so. In order words,
those potential stressors in our political economy do not directly cause
stress. Stress as a feeling is a direct consequence of personal attributes
and dispositions since we cannot categorically assert that exposure to
stress causes A - B - C disorders in A - B - C persons. Similarly, it is
also difficult to determine what doses or amount of stress is capable of
causing what amount of disorder or personal disturbance (Nweze,
1995: 39).
However, the consequences of stress can be grouped into
three levels: physiological, psychological and behavioural.
PHYSIOLOGICAL LEVEL
FoIlowing Agulanna (1994); Udeagha (1995), and Okafor
(1998), the physiological consequences of stress well correlated
with some patterns of pathological conditions and presentation
which are usually reported to general medical practitioners and
specialists in the form of problems like insomnia, amnesia,
palpitation of the heart, migraine, hlrpertensicn, ulcers, and other
psychosomatic disorders.
PSYCHOLOGICAL LEVEL
Stress at the psychological levels manifests itself in the form of
loss of interest in things aroiird him, depression, fear and anxiety, anger
and hostility.
nal of Social Sciences Vol. I
IOURAL LEVEL
At the behavioural level, stress manifssts itself in the form of
re drinking of alcohol, restlessness, smoking, and marital conflict.
3LOGICAL BURNOUT IN A QUASI-BUOYANT ECONOMY
Burnout syndrome was primarily conceived to be a characteristic
5 peeplie helping profession (that is, people whose jobs are human
service-1xiented). But recent finding by Pines (1988) showed that burnout
can occ ur in any occupational field as well as in other groups such as
student: ;, couples, parenis, political activists and housewives. Enzmann,
Schaufeli, Jassen and Rosemzn (1993) defined burnout as a 'state of
.
pnyslcar, emotional and mental exhaustion caused by long-term
involvement in situations that are emotionally demanding' (p. 332).
Physical exhaustion is characterized by low energy, chronic fatigue, and
weakness. Emotional exhaustion, the second component of burnout,
involves primarily feelings of helplessness, hopelessness and entrapment.
Mental exhaustion, the third component, is characterized by the
development of negative attitudes towards one's self, work, and life itself.
Because burnout is an end-state of one's long-term involvement
ifstress-riddled environment, and since Nigerian economic environment
has been beset with stress-provoking situations, it is most likely that
Nigerian populace are experiencing psychological burnout. Burnout
behaviours in our environment manifest themselves in the form of political
apathy, depression, alcoholism, smoking addiction, and substance abuse.
Perhaps, the same situation explains why Nigerian civil servants foid their
arms and watch helplessly as they are owed in arrears six months salary
and yet continue to periorm their duties diligently.
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COPING WITH STRESS AND BURNOUT
The ;oie iif cogriition ii; stress ?ercepiisn cannot be
~~~l;,emphaslze6.
This is because a st:essiul event or anxiety-provoking
E-i!mtion becomes so only %hen the individual perceives and interprets the
.-%,lf
situation as such. Therefore, the best siraiegy to adopt in coping with
stress is through the use of cognitive self-control. The emphasis here is on
FE
stress ana rsvcnotoocai uumour In a uuasl-uuovanr tconomy.
positive evaluation or appraisal of anxiety-provoking situations. What
cognitive self-control strategy of stress advocates it first to recognize 1
our thoughts influence our actions. Therefore, these faulty thoughtsjshc
be recognized, changed and controlled when confronted I \
environmental demands that tend to outweigh our resources for n e e
such demands. Another strategy for coping with stress is through the use
of relaxation method. This involves taking time off from all engagements.
This involves the relaxation of muscles which promotes sleep and
consequently releases tension. The third coping strategy involves the use
of exercise as a means of keeping off from stress-provoking situation. This
explains why many companies establish playground for workers in their
employ. The fourth coping strategy is to maintain a positive outlook on life.
When an event is so bad that the individual cannot effect a posiiive
change the best approach is to have a positive view of the situation. A
negative view of life, on the other hand, guarantees a high stress level
which may lead to the second level of stress (burnout). The fifth strategy is
the use of defense mechanism as a way of coping with stress.
Rationalization is one defense mechanism, which can be used
successfully to cope with tress.
Rationalization is the making up socially acceptable excuses for
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our shortcomings rather than exposing the true reason. When we are
faced with stressors that outweigh our resources for meeting such
demand, we can rationalize that "it is destined to happen that way,
CONCLUSION
Stress, as a subjective, emotional experience of feelings of
tension and discomfort consequent on stressor stimuli, is a phenomenon
with a dual property of universality and inevitability. It is with man
everywhere and at all times, the difference lying ozly in degree, bemuse
of the differences in people's health status, age, personality configuration,
past experiences, reactions ta stressor stin~ulidiffer marltediy.
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e are always at home with the signs and consequences of
d where we are not able to foreclose the onset of stress, we
,
,able to embrace one or two of the numerous, tested and
approaches to its management. Among many are; cognitive selfmaintaining positive outlook of life, doing regular exercise, and
relaxatton therapy.
REFERENCES
I.
Agulanna, E.C. (1994). Executive stress: Managing the manager
for survival. Enugu: Precision Printers and Publishers.
Enzmann, D,, Schaufeli, W., Janseen, P and Rozeman, A. (1998).
Dimensionality and validity of the burnout measure. Journal
of occupational and organizational psychology, 71, 331 351.
McGrath, J.E. (1976). Stress and Behaviour in Organizations. In
M.D. Dunnett (Ed), Handbook of Industrial and
Organizational Psychology, Chicago: Rand Mcnally.
Nweze, A. (1995). Stress in the Executive. In B.N. Ezeilo (Ed).
Family stress management. Enugu: ABlC Books and Equip
Ltd.
Okafor, J. and Okafor, R. (1998). Emotional and Mental Health. Nsukka:
Raija Publishers.
Pines, A.M. (1988). Keeping the Spark Alive: Preventing Burnout in
Love and Marriage. New York: St. Martin's Press.
Selye, H. (1976). Stress without distress. Philaedolphia: Sawders.
Sonnentag, S., Brodbeck, F., Heinbokel, T. & Stoke, W. (1998).
Stress-burnout relationship in software development teams.
Journal of occupational psychology, 84. 332 - 340,
Udeagha, C.F.'
(1995), Use and Abuse of Drugs in stress
management. In B.N. Ezeilo (Ed.), Family stress managemel
Enugu:
ABlC Books and Equip Ltd.
Uzoka, A.F. (1995). In family. Family induced stress and family
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