Stress Inoculation: How Can It Help Adolescents?
Stress is a natural reaction of our body that we all experience at some point. As much as we may wish for our children to live a calm and easy life, they’ll likely encounter numerous challenges. That’s why it’s important to make sure they have the right strategies and tools. And this is precisely what stress inoculation training is all about.
Adolescence is a particularly complicated time because of all the changes it entails. Young people go out into the world and gradually abandon parental protection. Therefore, they can feel overwhelmed on several occasions. Thus, the technique we’ll talk about today provides them with a clear guide on how to manage stress.
What is stress inoculation?
Stress inoculation isn’t specifically a technique. Rather, it’s a psychotherapeutic intervention that brings together several strategies. It lasts approximately 10 sessions and consists of three phases. Its main objective is to help the person understand how stress works, to provide tools to cope with it, and to guide them in applying them.
It’s a cognitive-behavioral technique that’s been successfully applied in children. However, it requires children to have a certain cognitive development. Therefore, adolescence is a stage in which it can be very useful. Young people will be perfectly capable of understanding and will be able to apply what they’ve learned from an early age.
Stress inoculation step by step
Psychoeducation
In this first phase, the professional explains to the young person how the stress response works. The teen learns to understand that stress is natural and adaptive as long as it occurs on an occasional basis. However, when it occurs chronically or excessively, it can prevent them from living a normal life.
During this stage, young people also learn how their specific problem works. For example, in the case of social phobia, they learn that it arises from paying excessive attention to ourselves while interacting. Or, in the case of a fear of taking an exam, they learn how excessive perfectionism can lead to poorer performance.
The rehearsal phase
This stage is the longest, but it’s also the most important. Here, the teenager is taught different techniques and strategies that can help them cope with stress. Generally, a relaxation or breathing technique (to manage anxiety at a physiological level) and a cognitive technique are used.
The latter involves changing the child’s internal dialogue by encouraging them to replace negative thoughts with empowering and functional ones. These new thoughts should be mentally repeated at the time that they’re facing the feared situation in order to provide motivation and calmness to face it.
A series of rehearsals are then conducted, with the goal of enabling the adolescent to apply these new strategies in a safe environment. This should start with situations that generate mild discomfort and progress to those that cause more anxiety.
Therefore, in the case of social phobia, for example, the young person may be asked to visualize a social scene that produces fear. Then, they’ll be asked to imagine facing it with the newly acquired skills. They can also practice these strategies with the therapist or family members before applying them in real life.
Implementation phase
In this last phase, the adolescent will have to face the feared situations in real life, relying now on all that’s been learned. It’s a matter of applying the rehearsed techniques to real-life scenarios. So, in our example, the young person will be able to put them into practice when interacting with other classmates, friends, or strangers.
Stress Inoculation, a great guide
This procedure can be used for a variety of conditions involving high levels of anxiety or stress. Ultimately, it’s a guide for the young person to know how to deal with challenging moments and come out on top. It helps them to know and use their own resources to manage difficult situations.
Once the child has acquired these tools, they’ll be able to put them into practice in numerous scenarios. They’ll be a lifelong resource that will always be available for use. Moreover, with each successful application, self-confidence will increase significantly. It is, therefore, a very complete and effective psychological intervention.
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- Monleón, M. C. B., & Arbona, C. B. (1991). Entrenamiento en Inoculación de estrés en un caso de asma infantil. Análisis y modificación de conducta, 17(55), 839-851.
- Reguera, L. (2019, octubre 16). ¿Qué es la inoculación al estrés y cómo puede ayudarnos? Recuperado junio de 2020, de https://lamenteesmaravillosa.com/la-inoculacion-al-estres-puede-ayudarnos/