Optimising Stress 
If Stress gets out of Control
The Impact of Life Crises, and How to Minimise Them
Life crises such as death of a spouse, divorce or bankruptcy can disrupt even the best stress management regime.Different life crises have different impacts. In many cases, however, it may be possible to anticipate crises and prepare for them. It may also be useful to recognise the impact of crises that have occurred so that you can take account of them appropriately.
Some very interesting work in this area has been done by Drs T H Holmes and R H Rahe, with the Social Readjustment Scale. This allocates a number of 'Life Crisis Units' (LCUs) to different events, so that you can evaluate them and take action accordingly. While this approach is obviously a simplification of complex situations, using LCUs can give you a useful start in adjusting to life crises.
The idea behind this approach is to run down the LCU table, totalling the LCUs for life crises that have occurred in the previous 2 years. As a rule of thumb, you may anticipate some form of serious mental or physical effects of the crises according to the following table:
Life Crisis Units and the Probability of Illness
LCUs Probability of illness
300 80%+ 200-299 50% 150-199 33%
The LCU table is shown below:
Life Crisis Scoring Table
Event LCUs Death of spouse 100 Divorce 73 Separation 65 Jail term 63 Death of close family member 63 Personal illness or injury 53 Marriage 50 Fired at work 47 Marital reconciliation 45 Retirement 45 Change in health of family member 44 Pregnancy 40 Sex difficulties 39 Gain of new family member 39 Business readjustment 38 Change in financial state 38 Death of close friend 37 Change to a different line of work 36 Change in number of arguments with spouse 35 A large mortgage or loan 30 Foreclosure of mortgage or loan 30 Change in responsibilities at work 29 Son or daughter leaving home 29 Trouble with in-laws 29 Outstanding personal achievement 28 Spouse begins or stops work 26 Begin or end of school or college 26 Change in living conditions 25 Change in personal habits 24 Trouble with boss 23 Change in work hours or conditions 20 Change in residence 20 Change in school or college 20 Change in recreation 19 Change in church activities 19 Change in social activities 18 A moderate loan or mortgage 17 Change in sleeping habits 16 Change in number of family get-togethers 15 Change in eating habits 15 Holiday 13 Christmas 12 Minor violations of law 11
Where you are in danger of suffering the ill effects of life crises, try to minimise the disturbance to your life. If, for example, you have lost someone close to you, try to avoid changing your job.
If you have a high score, or know that you will have a high score in the future, it may be worth pre-empting any problems by adopting stress management strategies now. Look after yourself.
