Strains, i.e. “stress” in the original sense, result from various areas of life. In “stress diagnostics”, the focus is placed on the following five topics:
- Critical life events (life events).
- Everyday stresses and reliefs (daily hassles).
- Stresses in the personal environment
- Burdens due to physical and mental illness
- Burdens due to lifestyle
Life-event research examines situational stress models (Laux, 1983), for example, work stress or social stress. Critical life events that require readjustment to changing life circumstances often lead to stress (Filipp, 1995). Holmes and Rahe (1967) laid the foundation for recording these stressful situations in a questionnaire. It is examined which life stress values occur at all and how they are assessed by the patient. The recording of critical life events is methodically more and more refined.
Lazarus and Folkmann (1984) have continued to focus on the unpleasant mini-events, the “daily hassles.” They are scrutinized in our “stress diagnostics” in the topic area of daily stresses and stress reliefs. They sometimes have a greater significance for the overall stress, if they are negative, than the life events.
The following stressful events are interrogated in the “stress diagnostics”:
- Worries about one’s weight
- Worries about the health of family members
- Rising prices
- Unpleasant housework and gardening
- Too many things to do at the same time
- Misplaced or lost things
- Worries about the workplace
- Taxes and duties
- Nuisances from neighbors
- Worries about the external appearance
- Worrying thoughts
- Financial problems
- Difficulties with work colleagues
- Times of loneliness
On the other hand, the daily gratifying relieving events – the “daily uplifts” – are also recorded in the sense of the salutogenesis concept (see above):
- Enough time for hobbies
- Good relationship with the partner
- Good relationship with friends
- Completion of a task
- Well-being, feeling of health
- Feeling of being well-rested and rested
- Going out to eat
- Pleasant visit or phone call
- Pleasant time with family or friends
- Praise and recognition
- Financial gain
- Personal success
- Good feeling when shopping
- Good entertainment: company, cinema, TV, etc.
The stresses in the personal environment describe the conflicts in the family, partnership and leisure. Social conflicts, such as the dual role of women in family and partnership on the one hand and in the world of work on the other, are also reflected in questions about the personal environment. They are, just like the burdens of physical and mental illness, an essential factor for a person’s well-being.
The influence of lifestyle, which is also influenced by physical condition and nutritional status, is also measured in “stress diagnostics”. If the negative parameters in the lifestyle predominate, the degree of overall stress increases and thus the stress factor of the affected person.
