Stress reverse: método para redução do estresse em adultos

Abstract

This thesis directs attention to the study of the increase of the body self-consciousness as a tool for stress’ coping. The World Health Organization (WHO) reveals that the world's population today suffers from the various forms of stress and related problems of physical, psychological and social orders. Scientific studies and clinical practices have shown positive effects of the use of body-oriented therapies for the treatment of diseases such as stress and related symptoms, such as anxiety and depression. The present study follow the current context of the studies of the conscience, integrating qualitative and quantitative data to describe and to evaluate the corporal self-consciousness. This phenomenon was investigated its capacity of emotional self-regulation of adults with stress and this capacity was related to the health / illness process and health promotion. This research followed a quantitative-qualitative design and was composed of four interdependent articles. Article 1 presents the methodology of Reverse Stress (SR) and its theoretical perspective based on body self-awareness and stress. It discusses how expanded and reflexive body self-consciousness can be a fundamental tool to transform pathological habits and build autonomy and how SR methodology contributes to the production of self-knowledge and self-care, and can be used alone or in association with other therapeutic tools in different clinical spaces, including in the public health network. Article 2 describes the discussions about the experiences of 14 participants in the SR program at the reflexive and metre-reflexive levels of their corporeal experience. Analyzed under the criteria of phenomenology-semiotics, nine themes emerged ("the body does not need to shout", "the body is affected", "to perceive the emotions", "the body signals", "to have control", "to gain sensitivity", " "To welcome", "nobody is equal" and "to experience the new") that indicated greater sensitivity to the processes of the body, increase in body awareness and potentialities and skills for the construction of new repertoires of self expression. Article 3 is a quasi-experimental clinical trial that evaluates the efficacy of SR therapy in the treatment of stress in adults. There were 28 participants equally divided between a Clinical Group and a Control Group. The results indicated that participants in the Clinical Group had increased body self-awareness and decreased levels of stress, anxiety and depression. It was concluded that RS is an effective methodology for reducing stress in adults. Article 4 deals with the evaluation of SR therapy through analysis of power variation (PSD) and asymmetry of Alfas waves by electroencephlogram. It included a protocol used to stimulate stress under experimental conditions and analyzed the emotional self-regulation of two women, with positive diagnosis of stress, focusing on their neural performances before and after SR Therapy. The quantitative data obtained indicated an increase of the Alfas waves in the frontal and prefrontal regions and a better symmetrical functioning of these waves, which corresponds to the self-regulated production of calm and relaxation. By reducing stress and, consequently, anxiety and depression, SR was related to increased alpha bands, demonstrating that therapy enables people to improve emotional self-regulation. Finally, it is concluded that the presented thesis contributes to the expansion of basic therapeutic modalities somatic, with focus on the corporal self-consciousness. Specifically, it generated theoretical and methodological contents for psychological interventions in the management of the corporeity suffering from stress.