One Day Workshop for BSF (Women) Personnel at PU

Chandigarh: The Centre for Human Rights and Duties in collaboration with National Cadet Corps, Panjab University, Chandigarh organised  today, a one day workshop for BSF (Women) Personnel on “Stress and Its Impact on Mental Health” at University Institute of Emerging Areas  in Social Sciences (UIEASS), Panjab University.
Ms. Deepika Lamba, Clinical psychologist, Department of Psychiatry, GMCH Sector-32, Chandigarh gave a presentation on the topic “Stress And Its Effects On Mental Health”. She said that stress not only affects our physical health but also mental health and well being. Stress has detrimental effects on our physiological, emotional, behavioral and psychological well being. Stress lead to various problems such as heart disease, cancer, lung diseases, accidents, depression, suicide etc. She stated that about 43% of adult health problems are the result of stress. Therefore, identification and dealing with the causes of stress is important.  She gave practical tips to manage stress.
Dr Manreet Kaur, Department of Psychiatry, GMCH Sector-32, Chandigarh gave a presentation on the topic “Stress Management: Practical Ways to Prevent and Relieve Stress”. She explained that stress management is basically a set of techniques and programs intended to help people deal more effectively with stress in their lives by analyzing the specific stressors and taking positive actions to minimize their effects. She shared the 7 tips that are adapted from the American Psychological Association (2018) to support individuals for Stress Management. These basically include: 1. Understanding stress 2. Identifying stress sources 3. Learning to recognize stress signals 4. Recognizing stress strategies 5. Implementing healthy stress management strategies 6. Making self-care a priority and 7. Asking for support when needed. She also talked about the 4 A's of Stress Management i.e. avoid, alter, accept, adapt. Stress management can be achieved by being proactive with your life, taking charge of your surroundings, avoiding individuals that cause you unnecessary stress. She also shared some of the coping strategies to relieve stress for eg. diaphragmatic breathing, progressive muscle relaxation (PMR), meditation, guided imagery, walk and exercise, thought monitoring, assertive communication, managing time, balanced schedule, adequate Sleep, balanced diet, positive self-talk habit, express Gratitude etc.
Dr. Kuldeep Singh, Coordinator NCC, PU,  Dr. Namita Gupta, Chairperson, Centre for Human Rights and Duties  and Prof. Monika Munjial, Incharge of NCC Girls Wing, in their address introduced the theme, shared the objective and introduced the resource person. They shared that the workshop has been organised to help BSF women personnel to cope with stress and other associated psychological problems. 
40 women personnel from the BSF participated in the workshop. / August 12, 2021