Chapter 35 - Stress Inoculation Training

Chapter 35 addresses the stress inoculation training technique. This technique is designed to help clients cope with mild stressors that will hopefully allow them to develop tolerance for more severe forms of distress. This technique has several goals. The first is to help clients to see their stress as a normal reaction. Clients then discover the nature of stress and their own role in maintaining their stress level, and then learn to manage stress by changing their conceptualization of it and understanding what is changeable about their stressful situation. This technique can be used both in individual sessions as well as during group counseling settings. When applying this technique, the counselor first helps clients to conceptualize the nature of their stress, offers skills and coping mechanisms for dealing with that stress, and helps them to apply these skills to real world settings. The case described in the book that this technique was applied to dealt with a college student that was feeling overwhelmed and unable to cope with a previous rape. This technique can be used for a variety of issues, such as speech or texting anxiety, anger, phobias, social problems, and depression. This can also be useful for all ages of clients from elementary students to older clients in the work force. I like that this technique is so versatile. I think because of that, it will be very helpful in future counseling situations.