Stress inoculation training

• Face minor stressor to become more resilient / confidence when coping with stressor
• Two main areas to work on:

  How stressor is perceived

  Ability to cope with stressor
• Also make individuals more aware of the behaviour that hinders them from coping and provide a more constructive way of coping
• Process

  • Conceptualisation- build relationship, ask questions, break down stressor and understand the impact
  • Skill acquisition- coping skills, skills that generalise to the real world, work on pre-existing skills
  • Application- on increasingly demanding situations use imagery/roleplay. relapse is seen as learning and booster sessions are used.
• • Flexible
  • 8-15 sessions
• May cause distress and harm if it's too intense - counterproductive
• Saunders- 37 studies of how SIT effectiveness- increased performance in workplace and reduced anxiety in high/low anxiety groups
• what parts effective?

  Moses and Hollandsworth- some given each stage, some only 1, no major difference in terms of anxiety levels. stage 1 alone not significant. practical context is most important
• Foa- SIT vs prolonged exposure (confronting situations that remind trauma) on females who experienced sexual assault. Both effective in reducing PTSD and depression. PE better in reducing more anxiety.

  Meichenbaum- Some elements of SIT removed- unfair, unreliable
• Psychological harm compared to drug therapy
• Review of SIT in military showed- more prepared to deal with acute stress not chronic.
• combat daily stress can still go to work and work effectively
• Less sick days, less stress-related illness/mental health.