STRESS !!!

[frohlocker]

Hello !

It´s said that ATcontrollers are totally stressed out, this is one of the most exhausting jobs there is - what do you think ? Is it really that bad ? Will a controller have grey hair at 35 ?
I´d like to hear some experiences of how stressed you controllers feel or what you do in your free time to recreate appropriately.

Thanks in advance

Frohlocker

[Asda]

Seen the film Airplane?

It's just like that.

[Asda]

Honest

[identnospeed]

Grey hair at 35? ................ More like NO hair !!

INS

[form49]

Grey hair at 25,nohair at 30...

As for relaxing, I find Vodka helps me wind down and the prozac helps me sleep!!!

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Turn left heading 230, close from the left, report established

[BEXIL160]

"What you do in your free time to recreate appropriately"???!!! http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/redface.gif

I have several children that I am aware of, none that I'm not (yet). Was stress the cause? I'll have to ask my ex-wife.

[Heading 365]

According to management there is no stress being an ATCO. The DGM at LATCC says we are pressured and the stress comes from outside the job. Like moving to the south coast, PPP etc etc. This stress is caused by managment!

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

A reasonably serious reply from someone with 35 years in ATC, nearly 30 involved with Heathrow traffic. I honestly have not knowingly experienced any stress caused by the task of being either a busy tower or radar controller. In fact, in time of worry - family health, kids, finance, etc, I have found myself to be most relaxed when at work! The reason for this was explained to me once by a CAA medic.. I'm someone who can cope when I'm in control of a situation which I am confident I can handle.

BUT.. stress effects people in different ways. I utterly hate long-distance travel (not flying, which I quite enjoy)... it's the hassle of getting to the airport, checking in, is the flight going to be late (almoste certainly yes), how will I feel at the other end (nearly killed us driving once after a long trip), will the house be safe while we're away, will we be taken ill while we're away... etc, etc, etc, etc. I've been able to overcome this stress in the past but a couple of weeks ago I had to pull out of an expensive holiday an hour before check-in. There were a few other worries at home and the lot became too much to handle. Fortunately I have a wonderful wife who is a rock in such circumstances and we got over it (apart from the loss of lolly!). I'm due to go on another trip in a few weeks and fingers are crossed..

That's just an example... but I know plenty of people I work with who will fall about laughing at what happened to me... but many of those will be biting their nails to the quick and twitched out of their heads when they're on radar..

[This message has been edited by HEATHROW DIRECTOR (edited 13 March 2001).]

[This message has been edited by HEATHROW DIRECTOR (edited 13 March 2001).]

[cossack]

Well said HD!
Stress and pressure are definately two different things. Some people thrive on pressure. Nobody thrives on stress.
Many people (me included) in ATC are able to cope with pressure and are happiest when under some pressure, its what makes the job great sometimes.
As HD has said, some people will handle the stress of life well but can't handle the pressure of this job.
When people ask an ATCO what they do for a living and they tell them, their first reaction is usually "I bet that's stressful."
On its own the job is not stressful. Include all the other stuff that goes on in people's lives like children, money, health and job security and sress will probably manifest itself in some shape or form. That can be said of any occupation added to the above worries.
Age 34, some grey but not balding...yet!

[Echo Oscar]

Surely stress is what we make or give ourselves when pressure (usually from external sources) starts to get to us? The answer must be not to allow the pressure to build.

Or, of course, move to the Highlands - no pressure here...

[shakinghead]

Agree with HD and Cossack.
Stress and pressure are different entities.

Pressure from busy traffic, for example, creates adrenalin which in turn speeds up the mind and body to manage the situation. This we experience throughout training and and regularly at work so we become able to deal with it. You know yourselves if you go home after a very busy period you need time to unwind because your body is affected by the adrenalin - then you collapse in a heap!

Stress on the other hand can be dangerous as it can affect your performance at work and is mainly caused by activities/problems going on around you at work, or outside work which we are not trained to deal with and do not encounter regularly enough to know how to deal with. At work I've found the main causes are the paper pushers not listening to/supporting staff, staff shortages, equipment malfunctioning etc.

I,m expecting the usual mockery that comes with these forums but I have personal experience of stress in the past couple of years and it is not funny and stays with you for a long time. I was one of those who thought "it will never happen to me"

One solution I have found is to have plenty of interests outside work, thus keeping your mind off it.

Thirty something, not grey but balding!


[This message has been edited by shakinghead (edited 13 March 2001).]

[Numpo-Nigit]

Good post HD. A few years ago I would have agreed 100% with your views on pressure versus stress. However, as an en-route controller, these days that feeling of "being in control", whilst it may be true when I am actually "in the hot seat", evaporates rapidly elsewhere in the working environment.

PPP is one factor, but that applies equally across NATS. However, add in the delays to NERC with all the attendant disruption of lives "put on hold" for years, the years of long-distance commuting, the upheaval of relocation, the constant staff shortages, the insensitive comments by senior management ("sixty odd controllers" and "you should listen to rumours" are two classics that spring to mind), the pressure to give/sell rest days back, the added complications of OCT for a system that people don't really believe in, and you have STRESS. At the same time, the usual outside pressures haven't gone away. People still have marital problems, health worries, financial pressures and numerous other distractions. It all adds up!!!

Hardly any wonder then that morale is at an all-time low, sickness rates are high and increasing and that early retirements and resignations are rising too.

The bottom line is that stress is an everyday feature of life in en-route, and it is unlikely to go away for the foreseeable future - whatever that may hold.

What are management doing about it, to protect their greatest asset? Whinging about non-existent "sick outs", blaming people for "trying to sabotage NERC", staeling days off and sticking up silly posters!!!

[Shazbat]

I find myself agreeing with others, about the difference between pressure and stress.

The PROBLEM is, that most of the stress in this job is brought about by BAD management, and constantly seeing bad managers continually "getting away with it" !

[Bright-Ling]

A Psychiatrist once said that stress was "The inability to cope with pressure".

Obviously not a NATS employee.......or maybe management!!!!!

What do the trick cyclists know anyway? They sit on their butt and listen to peoples problems. Easy life!!!

[daft fader]

In my view, the job is stressful but we manage to adapt to it. Things get out of hand when other pressures such as those being imposed on us at the moment by various parties threaten to exceed our capacity to so adapt (i.e we have limits)

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

I got fairly intimately involved with stress counselling a year or so ago (not for me, though!). It was likened to a bucket with a tap dripping in to it. All is well until that very last drip which makes the water overflow.. That a very good analogy too as a breakdown caused by stress often results in uncontrollable crying.

[slurp]

stress can also have effects on the body as well as the mind....check the guys out with blood pressure...ulcers ..and psoriassis and other related problems .

[LoLevel]

As mentioned elsewhere, the stress comes from outside influence in my view, but by outside I mean away from the console i.e. management re-organisations, efficiency campaigns, poor level of support. But the actual job itself is quite relaxing because it works with efficiency compared to those outside influences....probably being in control liek someone said.

In my view probably most stressful is dealing with different personalities...just like there are certain captains that when you fly with them you probably dont relax as much as with others.

[WebCreator]

Personal view:- Stress can be caused by both external and internal (ie self inflicted) factors. Eg, 1)stress can be caused by a Manager that acts like a muppet because there's little you can do about it (external influence) or 2) stress can be caused by allowing internal influence to have too much priority such as not having done something you know you should have done (paying the phone bill and realising you're about to be cut off or not reading your SI's when you know you should have). Coping with stress is about understanding what you can and can't fix or influence and switching off (or deploying other methods of engagement) from those you can't influence. In the case of Mr Muppet Manager, there are always routes open for review (whether they work or not is another factor) but you can reduce the stress by following the procedure. In the case of the phone bill, you simply need to look at the little things in your life that can cause stress and manage them better. By the way, many years ago I was sent on a course by my employer at the time called "Recognising Stress" - we all recognised it after the one day course, unfortnately we all then had to identify our own ways of "Coping with Stress" as the employer hadn't booked us on that one! Twitch, twitch...who said that?

Bye!

[ojt...aye]

I have to agree wholeheartedly with HD .I went through a pig of a divorce some years ago and the only time I was NOT stressed was when I was at work plugged in and doing it !!! I suppose the fact that this was the only time that I (underline underline) was in control meant that the bit of my brain that was worrying about lawyers and houses and settlements was occupied in doing something much more pressing .I actually looked forward to getting in to work as it meant that I could have a "stress free" day !!!!
HOWEVER ..now that NATS are in a state of flux, the antics of Twojags,and the constant feeling of uncertainty/impending doom only serves to heighten my anxiety and is leading (imho)to an increase in unease and ultimately stress related incidents

[5milesbaby]

Numpo, only one thing not listed - relocation. If you've tried it, bad luck, if you've not, make sure to take about three months off from the rest of your life so that there cannot be any extra stress caused anywhere else. I know some who had an easy ride, but most seem to be problematic. Good luck to anyone trying to do it later in the year.

[Grey at 20 (natural) http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/frown.gif , bald by 30 (pulled it all out!) http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/eek.gif ]