Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Case Study Example ep due to stress, work pressure and physical ailments. Chronic stress in Jennifer has affected her health physically. She has developed various physical ailments like backaches, headaches and indigestion. She also feels tired often. Though she visits doctor frequently, no obvious physical cause has been identified. These ailments actually lead to loss of sleep which further affects health and thus chronic stress is a vicious cycle of events. Chronic stress can lead to depression, anxiety, somatization, chronic fatigue and psychotropic drug consumption. It can lead to decreased immunity to infections. It can cause hypertension, precipitate diabetes, gastritis, gastroesophageal reflux and angina. It can also lead to poor eating habits, irregular sleep patterns, drug abuse and avert socialization, causing further worsening of health (Nevid and Rathus, 2005). How are these stressors affecting Jennifer’s self-concept and self-esteem? It is a well known fact that chronic stress impa cts not only the physical health of the individual, but also the mental health, including self-esteem and self-concept. Though Jennifer is a successful woman with excellent organizational qualities and good work performance record, several losses in her life like loss of conception, loss of mother and deteriorating health of father have impacted her performance and endurance. Added to these, long distance commutation, responsibilities at home and frustration over not being able to conceive and also not able to help her father out of suffering have undermined her very sense of achievement. Though Jennifer meets doctor often and has found no obvious reason for physical ailment, she does not admit going through stress. Being an ambitious woman and wanting to be perfect in every role of her life, she has unnecessarily put too many pressures on her shoulders. However, stress has reduced her level of self-esteem and self-concept. Jennifer, a once confident woman, is now beginning to quest ion her effectiveness as a daughter, daughter-in-law and wife. Due to innumerous mistakes at workplace, she is beginning to question her work performance. Also, inability to conceive after the previous miscarriage has shattered her confidence levels and she feels that she is not able to live up to the expectations of her in-laws who love her very much. She also feels guilty that she is not able to take care of her father in the manner he expects and thus feels that she is not able to live upto the expectations of her father whose health is deteriorating. Stress can lead to overwhelming fatigue, headache, abdominal pain, and impaired sleep. It can cause deterioration in social skills (Nevid and Rathus, 2005). Individuals in the midst of burnout often lose patience more easily, appear to be moody and depressed, withdraw from others, and do not interact with others as they did in the past. They may become more abrupt, cruder and abrasive in their dealings with others. Jennifer could be suffering from these problems too. How might Jennifer’s situation illustrate adjustment? How might this situation become an