Incest 0000i-xiv FM 1 - William L. White

Individual Vulnerability to Professional Distress 183
emotional pain. The primitive emotions stirred by working with the
abused, the diseased, the dying, and the deprived must have an outlet.
Workers who are incapable of discharging this emotion, rather than
helping others, are at risk of becoming victims themselves.
So how do we begin to improve our capacity for emotional expression?
Perhaps we begin by identifying when, where, and with whom we
can safely ventilate feelings elicited by our work experiences. Then we
must take the risk of sharing. Expressing deep emotion, like other areas
of communication, becomes easier with practice. Those for whom this is
a difficult area may need to seek out specialized training that can enhance
their communication skills.
Utilizing Counseling Services. One of the problematic aspects of professional
distress is the difficulty of identifying whether our emotional turmoil
is due primarily to distress in the work setting, to our unresolved
emotional issues, or to problems stemming from our outside-of-work intimate
and social relationships. There is a broad spectrum of counseling
services that can help identify and resolve the sources of our discomfort.
Professional counseling can be of great assistance in examining and
strengthening our own defense structure. As we come to understand
our defense structure, we are able to achieve a much higher degree of
self-acceptance and personal fulfillment. The patience and tolerance that
can come from such self-examination make us much easier to be around,
which, in and of itself, begins to reduce some of the self-provoked stressors
in our lives.
Pace Setting. Our physiology and personal defense structure combine to
provide each of us an optimum pace at which to conduct our day-to-day
activities. A major part of managing excessive stress is controlling and
shaping events around us in order to operate at that optimum pace. Trying
to operate at someone else’s optimum pace can be disastrous. Maintaining
a pace consistent with our biological nature reduces the physical
wear and tear of distress. One must recognize whether he or she is a turtle
or a racehorse and act accordingly. While each has value, to ask the
turtle to model the racehorse (and vice versa) would be absurd. When
selecting professional organizations and professional roles, we need to
match both to our biological nature. How would you compare your natural
pace to that of your current workplace?