Let’s Talk About Stress as a Doctoral Student
I had a chance to sit down and talk on the Writing on My Mind podcast with my friend, Dr. Lynell Hodge, who’s research expertise is in secondary trauma in educational environments and stress in marginalized communities.
I thought that it would be nice to have her write a blog to add to the conversation so what follows are her words as a guest blog post.
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Let’s talk about Stress by Lynell S. Hodge, EdD
It was a great time talking with Dr. Emmanuela about stress in the doctoral journal. The good news is that stress is not all bad, the goal is to be able to know what it is for you.
So what is stress? As I mentioned, there’s stress and there are stressors. Stress is an emotional response to a stimulus; while stressors are agitations to “normalcy”. Stress or a stressor is your body's response to a challenge or demand. In the doctorate program stressors could be workload and stress can be generated by a deadline and if not met a deadline can eventually become a stressor.
With this information in mind, stress can be positive. In the case of deadlines, the deadline itself can serve as a motivator to help you stay organized. However, when we typically talk about stress we think of it as the thing that creates disruptions and maybe negative. As we consider how and what stress is there are 3 types of stress:
Acute stress immediate and intense normally not lasting no longer than one month (e.g. studying for comprehensive exams),
Episodic stress experiencing stress on a regular basis (e.g. beginning and ending of semester responsibilities), and;
Chronic stress a consistent sense of feeling overwhelmed over a long period of times (e.g. workload due to not having sufficient staff)
Regardless of the type of stress/stressors you experience, it’s important you have mechanisms in place to identify how stress manifests for you. Stress reactions could appear as physically experiencing a rapid heart rate, weakness, or tension; cognitively as slowed thought process, confusion, poor concentration, fear, worry, panic, anger; or behaviorally as withdrawal inwards or away from others, hyper-vigilance, and lastly changes in interpersonal relationships (Hodge, 2016). Having a good pulse on your stress responses is key to better managing stress and the first line of defense.
I would strongly encourage students to inventory their life and see if there are ways to delegate, stop, or reduce responsibilities. The ability to have more control of your time/schedule can be a huge game changer. And lastly, I urge doctoral students to always find community. Having a support system to bounce ideas off of, process information and experiences, as well as information about successful strategies to navigate this journey helps reinforce your goal of finishing your program.
I want to leave you with that no one process is the same and there is no sure bullet to get through this experience. But, with a little coordination, a lot of positive affirming, and organization you will be able to finish. If you would like to chat with me or need more resources you can connect with me at www.lynellshodge.org.
Be sure the check out the podcast episode with Dr. Hodge.
