Abstract
Had he been so inclined, Epictetus, a philosopher who plied his trade sometime between 50 and 120 A.D., could have served as a theoretical consultant to the first stress clinic. He certainly understood the most crucial aspect of stress, namely, perceptions. His insight into what constitutes a stressful or “disturbing” situation or “thing” is 100% accurate. Nothing in and of itself causes stress; our interpretations of events, interactions, and other aspects of our environment are what cause stress reactions.
Men are disturbed not by things, but by the views they take of them.
Epictetus
We do not succeed in changing things according to our desire, but gradually our desire changes. The situation that we hoped to change because it was intolerable becomes unimportant.
Marcel Proust
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References
Jones, E. E., Kanouse, D. E., Kelley, H. H., Nisbett, R. E., Valins, S., and Weiner, B., Attribution: Perceiving the Causes of Behavior (Morristown, N.J.: General Learning Press, 1971).
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See Beck, A. T., Rush, A. J., Shaw, B. F., and Emery, G., Cognitive Therapy of Depression (New York: Guilford Press, 1979); and Meichenbaum, D., Ed., Cognitive Behavior Modification: An Integrative Approach (New York: Plenum Press, 1977).
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See, for example, Bem, D. J., “Self-Perception Theory,” Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Volume 6, L. Berkowitz, Ed. (New York: Academic Press, 1972), pp. 1–62;
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© 1986 Steven Berglas
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Berglas, S. (1986). The Executive Stress Clinic. In: The Success Syndrome. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-6303-1_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-6303-1_12
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