Stress is one of the challenges that have affected humans for ages. People are mostly stressed about problems occurring in their lives, responsibilities, and busy schedules.
Many specialists have attempted to help people solve stress-related problems by writing articles that suggest things that stressed-out people can do to reduce their levels of stress (Posen, 1995, p. 1). This paper examines one of these articles and critically analyses their strengths and weaknesses.
The strengths of Smith’s article outweigh its weaknesses. It provides a systematic way of coping with stress that is bound to help readers struggling with stress.
For instance, the article suggests that before attempting to deal with stress, a person should ensure that he/she identifies his/her stressors (Smith, 2008, p. 1).
This is bound to be helpful since without knowing what is stressing them, people will be unable to know which method is appropriate for use in curbing the stress. Thus the identification of the stressor is perhaps the prerequisite to dealing with stress.
The second suggestion about evaluating the current method that the victim currently uses to deal with stress is also important. The person will be able to know what they need to improve on to fight stress effectively.
Also among the strengths of Smith’s article is the fact that Smith offers a holistic approach to managing stress. She views all dimensions of stress and gives a viable remedy for each. For instance, her text evidences her advocacy for avoiding thence of importance in the first place.
She thinks that a person should only cope with the stress that is inevitable per se. This means that she recommends the avoidance of unnecessary stress and thus the victim will have low levels of stress to deal with.
As stated above, she then addresses each facet of stress which could be a source of inefficiency in a stress management program and suggests ways of dealing with them.
It can thus be summarized that if a stress victim adheres strictly to the suggestions made in the article, the victim is bound to reduce his/her level of stress.
On the other hand, the article fails to give a one-dimensional approach to stress management. This opens loopholes that give way to implementation inefficiency. This is because it may prove to be rather challenging to implement all the suggestions made in the article efficiently.
Another weakness in this article is that some of the suggestions it makes may be unrealistic. For instance, the suggestion that the article offers about altering the situation that causes the stress may be unrealistic.
For instance, if a person is stressed out due to the death of a member of his/her family, it will be impossible to alter the stressful situation.
This is even though the article goes on to give a solution for such situations; accepting the things that the person who is suffering stress cannot change (Smith, 2008, p. 1).
In a nutshell, although this article has some negligible weaknesses, it is good, and it is bound to bring about a positive impact on a stressed out person who applies it.
The website is well laid out with useful links on ideas that people could use to avoid getting stressed out in the first place. It has links about relationships, family life and the like. The stress management information is also well presented with clear headings that make it easily readable.
Reference List
Posen, D. (1995). Stress Management for Patient and Physician. Canadian Journal of Continuing Medical Education. Web.
Smith, M. (2008). Stress Management. Rotary Club of Santa Monica. Web.