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COPINGWITH
STRESS-
WITHOUTALCOHOL
ORDRUGS
by
Norman Shoaf
r;
's
FACE I T.
No other
single force is more
responsible for the
worldwide epidemic of drug
and a l cohol abuse than
hypertension, or excessive
stress.
What do we see in the world
around us? Overcrowding. Inter–
personal conflicts. Economic un–
certainty. l nternational strife.
Uncertainty about the future. A
gnawing sense of helplessness.
These factors add up to create
what Alvin Toffler described as
future shock- a
vague, continuous
feeling of anxiety. It's a condition
that can only be described
as the disease of change.
Escaping Reallty
More and more, people are
seeking to dull the pain of
this 20th century "disease"
May 1982
by using alcohol and drugs. But the
supposed cure has itself created an
epidemic. Organizational develop–
ment consultant Karl Albrecht aptly
summarizes today's state of mind in
these words:
"The use of mood-altering chem–
icals in America, and to sorne
extent in other developed countries,
has run completely wild.
"Cultures we are pleased to label
'primitive' all without exception
reserve the use of tobacco, drugs
and intoxicants for speciaJ occa–
sions such as celebration and
rituals. Only in the so-called
advanced cultures do we use these
chemically induced altered states of
awareness as routine . means for
escaping reality."
Stress is not necessarily a nega–
tive force. Stress is not, after all,
just what happens to us, but
how
we react to
what happens to us.
And how we rcact is controlled by
our mind and emotions.
The Role of Stress
To be alive is to be under a certain
amount of stress. As endocrinologist
Hans Selye, one of the world's fore–
most author ities on stress, says:
" Most people who want to accom–
plish something, who are ambitious,
live on stress. They need it." The
right amount of stress can push us to
perform at our very best.
Stress also serves to protect us in
hazardous situations. If we are
driving along in fast traffic and
another car swerves into our lane in
front of us, a lot of things immedi–
ately happen in our bodies–
in the brain, heart, muscular
system. The body marshals
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