Deadly slough of despond

Executive stress can be far more damaging and far-reaching than just a bad day at the office, reports JULIE MIDDLETON.

Done the stress test? The results aren't reassuring, are they?

The fact is that unchecked executive stress leads to burnout, and from there it's a swift slide to clinical depression, an imbalance of brain chemicals.

And that can be a very hard pit to climb out of.

The societal cost of work-related stress is hard to quantify - specifically New Zealand figures don't exist.

But International Labour Organisation research has found that among the workplaces of Finland, Germany, Poland, Britain and the United States, as many as one in 10 workers suffers from work-related depression, anxiety, stress and burnout.

Except for upheavals such as divorce, most of the major stresses in our lives are work-related: increased workload due to company downsizing, job insecurity, rapid change, which disrupts our comfort zone, long working hours and difficulty balancing home and work.

A psychologist to Auckland's career high-flyers, John McEwan, says that while stress as a physical response is alike in everybody, he also has a radical theory that the stress eating New Zealand career types also has deep roots in our collective post-colonial psyche - more on that later.

In physical terms, stress, says the burnout and depression specialist, "is the body's adaptation internally to threat, danger or demand."

Some stress can be good, he notes. The pressure that we put ourselves under to perform, for example.

Daily life provides the odd stressful moment that we deal with and forget.

But the threshold at which the body decides it can't cope is different in every person.

Confronted by a threat - physical or emotional, real or imagined - the brain causes the sympathetic nervous system to release adrenaline, noradrenaline and other related hormones.

Flooding the body, they promote the fight-or-flight syndrome - metabolism, heart-rate, blood pressure, breathing-rate and muscle tension all increase.

Suppress this for too long and the body sends warning signals: minor illnesses and subtle changes in behaviour, says McEwan.

This could range from coughs, colds and flu, snapping at colleagues and family, losing short-term memory and perpetually mislaying car keys.

Some may feel that they are falling out of love with their partner, or start drinking more.

Each week, says McEwan, he is seeing between two and seven executives whose work stress has contributed to an affair.

He says that stress-sparked affairs are invariably not the answer, pointing to American statistics that say 60 per cent of men regret divorce two years after the event, and 40 per cent of women.

But the biggest concern for executives - and their employers - is that this stress reaction erodes ability to think strategically, says McEwan.

Rational, long-term planning is exchanged for short-term, reactive decision-making.

"When the stress hormones get to a certain point, they start to restrict the thinking. The body goes into survival mode rather than planning mode.

"When you've got someone who's stressed, they are not making good decisions, they are not seeing the big picture."

And physically, they might be getting worse - suffering mood swings, memory failure, sinking esteem, lethargy, skin and heart problems, the shakes, sleep disorders.

Burnout is not far away. Clinical depression, where there is a change in brain chemistry, can follow.

McEwan believes that the stress for which he counsels many of the country's top business people has cultural underpinnings unique to New Zealand.

In short, he says that this country's journey to full-fledged post-colonial nationhood has entrenched a set of conflicting messages to which success-oriented people are acutely vulnerable.

New Zealanders - especially that baby-boom generation leading our corporates - were brought up with two models of thinking that were contradictory, he says.

That is, pioneering, can-do, No 8-wire practicality and a phenomenon he calls the "old British Empire software error - which is still part of our culture."

That, he says, is more than tall poppy syndrome.

It's the inferiority complex "that says we're not good enough, we must all try harder.

"The one that says to kids: don't praise them, it will only go to their head."

These co-exist only in tension, says McEwan, and it's that tension which can create incredible drivenness and success, but also depression and despair.

The genesis of this he locates in the free education set up along British lines for New Zealand children so long ago.

The rules and goals were rigid, he says, in a system designed to provide soldiers and nurses for the greater glory of the British Empire.

"We're still dealing with the legacy," says McEwan. "It's those in their 40s and 50s, brought up through 1950s and 1960s, who still got a full inoculation of this old Empire software error."

McEwan hasn't published anything along these lines. But he says peers "nod sagely" when they hear his theory. And there's the proof every day in his office, he adds.

"Miserable millionaires stuck with a software incompatible with success."

Heaped on top of that for many executives, he says, is the fear of the future in a corporate world where New Zealand is becoming a branch office and so many staff have been shed by companies.

Those sitting at the top of the tree here, he says, can see exactly how economically precarious New Zealand is.

"Those who think globally realise just how tenuous we are. We are realising that our politicians aren't or haven't been smart enough.

"We have no security for anything. Once again, I don't think 80 per cent of our population realises that.

"But the 20 per cent at the top that I'm seeing do realise that.

"That's part of the stress of the top people - they really do see what's going on and they have a reason to be anxious. But we are not good at seeking help - who wants to admit to a weakness?"

Counselling is usually precipitated by a crisis at work or at home so overwhelming, he says, that it cannot be ignored.

Although 50 per cent of McEwan's clients go on to anti-depressants to get them on to an even keel as soon as possible, psychological treatment often needs to start with an understanding of the double-whammy.

"The good news is that when people see the software error, they can start telling themselves the truth," says McEwan.

"That's the start of stress management - it's telling yourself the truth.

"At that point we can re-programme - work out what the software error is and use basic anti-anxiety techniques."

* Next week: What you can do about managing and treating your stress.

FAST FACTS ABOUT JOB STRESS

* The United States National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health reports stress-related disorders are quickly becoming the most prevalent reason for work disability.

* Recent research shows that at least 40 per cent of employee turnover in the US is the result of work stress.

* Job stress is estimated to cost American industry $200 billion to $300 billion in diminished productivity, employee turnover, accidents, direct medical, legal and insurance fees, and worker compensation.

* In Japan, "karoshi" - death from overwork - is now recognised as a fatal combination of stroke, high blood pressure and stress.

* Job stress can be a cause and an effect of workplace violence.

Source: NZ Mental Health Foundation.