How Does Stress Help Facilitate Potential Positive Outcomes For Outdoor Adventure Education And Adventure Therapy Participants?

This analysis persists of key points, about The article “Stress and the brain by Janet Elder”. The author forged an excellent informative piece to educate the reader on the effects of stress on the brain. The author states that “Stress can be both good and bad. It is part of life, and your brain and body respond to it”. The author clarifies that, "Whether stress is harmful or helpful depends on the amount of stress, how severe it is, and how long it lasts".

Stress Is the body’s way of responding to the hectic lives most of us live, whether good or bad. The body releases chemicals into the bloodstream, which creates a rush of energy and strength If an individual is feeling stressed. This energy can prove useful if an individual is in physical danger. Because it enables a person’s survival instinct kicks in; it is often described as ‘fight or flight.’ In addition, stress can also have a negative effect on the body, for example: suffering from stress and leaving it unchecked can contribute to health problems, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.

Wilderness Rehabilitation is a growing method of therapy in the U.S. At the moment it is known that there is a minimum of 500 organizations that conduct therapeutic wilderness techniques in America. The rapid expansion of this method alone shows how successful wilderness rehabilitation really is. With many research studies to prove its therapeutic benefits for troubled youth wilderness rehabilitation stands as one of the most successful methods out there today.

The wilderness is a place known for peacefulness and can have physical and psychological benefits (Hassell, Moore & Macbeth, 2015). Wilderness therapy is an alternative therapy, influenced by Outward Bound, which is an outdoor education company with programs for youth and adults. (Hoag, Massey, Roberts, & Logan, 2013). Wilderness therapy combines group work, reflection, challenges and trust building exercises, varied length, and clinical assessment (Russell, 2001). Wilderness therapy should be therapeutic based, and by integrating a balance between a nurturing safe environment with an environment where the participants try new things and challenge themselves (Russell, 2001). The best way for wilderness therapy to be effective is using nature as a healer and a challenger, using eclectic therapy such as cognitive behavioral and experiential, alone time to reflect and challenges to complete solo, learning communication skills, and having steps to complete or rites of passage (Russell, Hendee, & Phillips-Miller (2000). These different aspects of wilderness therapy will help to aid patients’ in following three phases (Russell et al., 2000). The first phase is the cleansing phase and involves promoting a healthy diet and exercise, removing any toxins such as drugs and alcohol from a patients life and system, and ridding the patients life of outside stimuli such as technology and music. The patient should also be taught basic wilderness survival skills during

Many believe that stress is a simple problem, however it is often misunderstood and more complex than they believe (p. 181, Griffin & Moorhead, 2014). Stress is the physiological and psychological response to excessive and usually unpleasant stimulation as well as threatening events in the environment (p. 284, Schultz and Schultz, 2010). Stress appears in silent and subtle ways but this negative response affects millions of employees in all levels of all types of jobs (p. 284, Schultz and Schultz, 2010). If identified

As my interest in outdoor recreation grows stronger and stronger each day, I have realized that my interest lies in wilderness therapy focusing on adolescents with behavioral disorders. The first thing that I learned about the great outdoors is the therapeutic remedy it provides for all different levels of state of mind. It is a fast and effective treatment when it comes to low mental health or mental struggles that people face. Whether it is depression, ADHD, ADD or any other behavioral disorder, I believe there are alternate solutions other than medications or psychiatric measures.

Wilderness therapy utilizes outdoor adventure pursuits and other activities, such as primitive skills and reflection, to enhance personal and interpersonal growth (Kimball & Bacon, 1993). In this paper I will be discussing some of the different benefits that are gained from participating in outdoor recreation and nature activities. In the age we live in, kids are pressured by so many sources around them that aren’t beneficial to their lives. Media influences, constant immersion in technology, relying upon others, and sedentary lifestyle has caused a decline in

According to HeartMath LLC,“Stress is the basic cause of 60% of all human illness and disease”. Stress is a huge problem in the world today and affects many people. Everyone has different stress triggers. For example, work, school, and children are all parts of life that many people struggle with and cause them to go into overload. Stress can take a toll on many people's bodies and can cause serious problems. In opposition to the people who think that stress is a negative, some people say that it is a positive. They claim that it motivates them, boosts their adrenaline, and makes them smarter.

Creativity has been shown to improve through long-distance hiking as it clears the mind and keeps hikers focused. While hiking, hikers use endorphins to mask pain, and dopamine to motivate goal attainment. These combined gives the hiker an exhilarated high that lasts for hours even after the hike has stopped. Studies have shown that this combination can boost your creativity and attention (Franz). Hiking in nature relaxes the competition among different brain activities and allows for a new way of

Stress is a major component of people’s lives at some point or another. Stress is a state of mental and/or emotional tension as a result of demanding circumstances and events. Stress has an impact on humans physically and psychologically. There are different types of stress including: acute, episodic acute, and chronic. Acute is the most common form of stress and it only has temporary effects, episodic is a more frequent form of acute stress, and chronic is the most destructive. Individuals react to these forms of stress in many different ways. There are techniques for dealing with stress, however, not all are positive and healthy treatments. The brain and body follow a complex pathway in order for a person to respond to and feel stress.

“I cannot and should not be cured of my stress, but merely taught to enjoy it.”-Hans Selye. Stress is every day fact of life. We can’t avoid it. It is believed to account most types of disease and illness and affects all the dimension of life. The World Health Organization calls stress as ‘a global epidemic’.In fact, stress is not only desirable it is also essential to life. According to Cardwell et al. (2002), 'stress is defined as a gap between the perceived demands on you and you’re your perceived coping response '. In this explore the relationship of personality and perception with stress; first the differences among physiological, environmental and transactional approaches to stress will be outlined. Then both physiological and environmental models will be critically evaluated. Finally, conclusion will be made after the discussion of individual differences in stress response with reference psychological research.

Personal Stress is something that everyone experiences at some point time in their lives, and for the most part, most people experience high levels of stress. As we experience stress, there are some basics responses that apply to each person. “Each individual exhibits the same basic response to similarly perceived acute stress exposure, although the immediate and long-term consequences of the stress response vary greatly among individuals” (Quick et al., 2013, p. 43). This is a direct connect to our own personal cognitive appraisal, and according to Quick (2013), the process of cognitive appraisal that includes perception and interpretation (p. 44). Cognitive Appraisal, is defined as the process by which the physiological

The wider the term ‘stress’ is used, the more elusive becomes its meaning. Modern definitions of stress recognize that it is a personal experience caused by pressure or demands on an individual, and

Beautiful mountains, crystal clear rivers, acres of green grass, gentle chinook winds on a bright fall day. Who wouldn’t feel calm, centered and empowered in this picture? This is a snapshot of what my future career will look like; helping others find their inner happiness and their well being by sharing my enthusiasm for the outdoors while utilizing my compassion for helping others as a Wilderness Therapist.

Stress can be defined as change in one’s physical or mental state in response to strain and pressure. A truly ignored side of stress is, it can be positively adaptive. positive mental stress can prompt inspiration and test rather than uneasiness. Stress can help people in achieving their goals and taking them through challenging situation but stress can also become burdensome leading to emotional distress or physical illness. It could be outer and identified with the environment, however it might additionally be made by inward recognitions that cause a single person to have tension or other antagonistic feelings encompassing a circumstance, for example, weight, uneasiness, and so on, which they then esteem upsetting.