CPSY: 385 STRESS AND STRESS MANAGEMENT 

Department of Counseling Psychology 

Santa Clara University 

 

 

Dr. Shauna L. Shapiro 

Email: slshapiro@scu.edu 

Phone: 408-554-4436 

Office Hours: Mondays 3-5pm, Tuesdays 12:30-1:30, Office Hours by appointment: Tuesdays 4-5pm. If needed 
I am also available to come in at times outside office hours, and I am available on my cell phone: (650) 387-2892. 

 

Course Description 

More than 80% of all diseases and illnesses have a stress component. More than 90% of Americans deal 
with stress ineffectively. As health care costs continue to rise, more emphasis will be placed on each 
individual to accept the responsibility for his or her health. The application of effective strategies for 
stress reduction is a very important component of optimal health. The intention of this course is to explore 
definitions of stress and approaches to managing it. The course is designed to foster creative thinking 
about how social, psychological and physiological systems interact to produce stress and affect health; 
and to investigate critically and experientially different interventions aimed at managing stress. The 
learning activities of the course are both theoretical and experiential. The class will offer an introduction 
to a wide array of stress management strategies, in addition to focusing in depth on one particular stress 
management intervention, to give students both breadth and depth. The goal of this course is to provide a 
clear understanding of how a variety of factors including biology, emotions, personality, lifestyle, cultural 
and environment continually interact in a dynamic process creating health and disease. 

Course Objectives 

1. Students can explain the detrimental role stress plays in both physiological and psychological 
health 
2. Students will be able to define and practice specific stress management techniques. 
3. Students will be proficient at how stress effects their personal health, and will know how to better 
manage their own stress. 


 

Course Competencies 

1. Articulate a multi-modal model of stress and health. 

 

2. Describe physiological responses to stress and how they can be affected by stress reduction techniques. 

 

3. Can demonstrate a personal approach to stress management by applying techniques learned in class. 

 

4. Describe a range of stress management theories or strategies that can be applied to diverse populations. 

 

 

DEMONSTRATION OF COMPETENCIES 

1. Class attendance and participation 
2. Written Reflections on textbook and journal articles 
3. Practice and Applications of techniques learned in class 
4. Experiential Student Presentation 
5. Final Paper 


 

 

 

 


Required Reading 

 

(1) Lehrer, P. M., Woolfolk, R. L., & Sime, W. E. (2007). Principles and practice of stress management 

 (3rd ed.). New York, NY US: Guilford Press 

 

 (2) Kabat-Zinn, J. (1990). Full catastrophe living: Using the wisdom of your body and mind to 

 face stress, pain and illness. New York, NY: Dell. 

 

 (3) Seaward, Brian Luke. Stress Management Workbook. 

 

 (4) Stress Reduction Workbook and CD. 

 

Optional Texts 

 

Sapolsky, R. (1998). Why zebras don’t get ulcers: an updated guide to stress, stress- related 

 diseases and coping (2nd ed.). New York: W. H. Freeman. 

 

 Shapiro, S.L. & Carlson, L.E. (2009). The art and science of mindfulness: integrating 

 mindfulness into psychology and the helping professions. Washington D.C.: APA Books. 

 

 

Evaluation 

. Attendance and Punctuality: 20 
. 8 Written Reflections on Reading- 16 points (Pass/Fail) – 2 points per reflection 
. Seaward Stress Management Workbook (10 entries to be turned in last day of class) – 4 points 
(P/F) 
. Class Presentation – 20 points 
. Take home final exam 40 points 


 

Total: 100 points 

 

Attendance and Class Participation. The format of this course relies on excellent attendance and participation. We will all learning from each other, which requires that everyone be prepared, attend class, and participate. Participation is not graded the amount you speak in class, but by your presence and active engagement (even if this is simply engaged listening!) If you 
need to miss class, please call me before-hand so we can go over materials that will be missed. Two absences will result in lowering of your grade. If the first class is missed, except for extenuating circumstances as determined by the Professor, 
students will not be admitted to the course and will have to withdraw if they are already enrolled. 

 

 

Written Reflection Pieces (16) 

 Reflection of readings and stress management exercises practiced each week. 1 typed page. Reflections 
can include both questions and comments about the reading as well as your own personal reflections of 
how the awareness of stress and the different stress management techniques are effecting your daily life 
(e.g. driving, eating, relationships, school, work), and any changes you have noticed. The journal should 
also include reflections on the weekly reading. I encourage you to share as deeply as you feel 
comfortable. However please note that I will NOT follow up on any of the reflections in attempt to give 
you privacy to share without feeling that you will have to discuss further. If you want to talk to me about 
something personal, please schedule an appointment with me in person. *You will only receive Pass/Fail 
for these assignments. There are no “correct” experiences to be had from these exercises. You are not 
required to reveal anything personal, unless you choose to. 

 

 


 

Seaward Workbook (10). Choose 1 exercise in the workbook to complete each week (at least 10). As this 
is an opportunity for personal exploration, the content will be reviewed and receive a pass/fail mark. This 
workbook will be turned in at the final class. 

 

Experiential Student presentation (24) 

My pedagogy is one of student-centered active learning and I use a universal learning design. To facilitate 
this I include small group student presentations as part of the course. I provide the critical disciplinary 
context for all student presentations. The class will be divided into small groups of 3-4. Each group will 
delve deeper into a specialized topic in Stress Management, and report back to the larger class as well as 
lead fellow students in an experiential exercise. The purpose is to creatively involve the class in practicing 
a technique or experiencing firsthand some aspect of a topic introduced by the professor. The professor 
will introduce the presentation topic and then the student presentation will help it become alive for the 
class. Each group will be mentored by the professor toward readings and ways of presenting. 
Additionally, the professor will be actively engaged in each presentation, helping to draw out key points, 
or connect topics back to relevant issues. Each individual will receive the same grade for the Group 
Presentation. Please closely read the attached presentation instructions. 

 

 

Take Home Exam (50) 

In the 9th week of class students will be given a take home final exam covering all of the reading material, 
didactic lectures, and student presentations. The exam will be due in the final class. It is SCU policy that 
all papers and exams are returned only in student supplied self-addressed stamped envelopes, so please 
include this with the final exam. 

 

Self-Disclosure/Self-Reflection: 

The professional training philosophy of the Counseling Psychology Department is predicated on the notion that an effective 
counselor must be a whole person. Indeed, in the practice of counseling, it is the person of the counselor that is a major 
component of healing. As a counselor-in-training, then, self-reflection is a necessary and required part of the training that 
helps one better understand and empathize with his/her future clients' experience. 

 

Such reflection is a significant component of one's personal and professional development as an effective and sensitive 
instrument of change. Thus, it is customary that in the CPSY Masters Program's classes at SCU, students are regularly 
assigned work that involves self-disclosure and personal study of the content of that self-disclosure. Students are expected reflect on their past and present personal experiences in courses and program related activities, in oral and/ or in written 
assignments. 

 

We respect students' rights to confidentiality, and do not require that any particular or specific information be disclosed. 
Moreover, we do not evaluate students' progress in the program based on the disclosure of any specific information (except mandated by ethical codes or law). 

 

It is our experience that this philosophy and related formats in our classes provides a rich and superlative educational 
experience, involving more aspects of student experience than do standard lectures or written material which does not include 
the person of the therapist in training. 

 

DISABILITY ACCOMMODATION POLICY: 

To request academic accommodations for a disability, students must contact Disability Resources located 
in The Drahmann Center in Benson, room 214, (408) 554-4111; TTY (408) 554-5445. Students must 
provide documentation of a disability to Disability Resources prior to receiving accommodations. 


CLASS SCHEDULE 

 

 

Class Assignments 

Course Content and Assigned Readings 

Class One 

Reading: 

 

Full Catastrophe Living (FCL) Preface, Foreword 
& Introduction. 

Welcome. Review Syllabus. Introduction to 
Stress and Conceptual Issues Underlying 
Stress Management 

 

Class Two 

Reflection and Record Due 

Reading: Full Catastrophe Living (FCL), 
Chapters Chapters 1 & 2, 3. 

 

Stress Management Text: Chapter 1-2 

 

Paradigms, meanings and world views and 
their relationship to stress. 

 

Effects of stress on psychological, behavioral 
and physical well-being. 

 

 

 

Class Three 

Reflection and Record Due 

Reading: Full Catastrophe Living (FCL), 
Chapters 4-6 

 

Stress Management Text: Chapters 4 

Stress and the Body. How stress effects our 
physiology and how awareness of our body 
can be an effective means of coping with 
stress. 

 

Progressive Relaxation 

Class Four 

Reflection and Record Due 

Reading: Full Catastrophe Living (FCL), 
Chapters 9, 10, 11 & 12 

 

Stress Management Text: 9, 12 

 

Different styles of coping with stress. 
Discussion of the role of acceptance vs. 
change in coping with stress. 

 

Biofeedback 

Class Five 

Reflection and Record Due 

Reading: Full Catastrophe Living (FCL), 
Chapters 13-16 17-20 

Stress Management Text: 13, 23 

 

Resilience, Self-care and self-compassion. 
Review of the literature and practical 
applications. 

 

Exercise as Stress Management 

Class Six 

Reflection and Record Due 

Reading: Full Catastrophe Living (FCL), 
Chapters 17-23 

 

 

Stress in the Workplace and interpersonal 
relationships. 

 

Guided Imagery 

Class Seven 

Reflection and Record Due 

Reading: Full Catastrophe Living (FCL), Chps 
24-27 

 

Stress Management Text: 16-17 

 

Stress and Crisis: approaches to dealing 
with trauma, illness and suffering 

 

 

Somatic Techniques for Stress Management 

Class Eight 

Reflection and Record Due 

FCL, Chapters 28-30 

 

Stress Management Text: 20 

Integrating Stress Management into 
Psychotherapy 

 

Music Therapy 

 

Class Nine 

Global vision and Systems theory 




Reflection and Record Due 

FCL: Chap 31-34 

Stress Management: Chp 25 

 

approaches to Stress. 

 

Humor Therapy 

Class Ten 

Final Exam and Final Meditation Diary Due 

Reading: Full Catastrophe Living (FCL), 
Chapters 35-36 

 

Stress Management: 26 

Closing Dialogue and 
Future Directions 

 

Final Exam Due 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Writing Reflection Pieces 

 

. How did the practice make you feel? 


 

. What do you think about during practice? 


 

. How does this affect your everyday life? Mentally/physically/socially 


 

. Does practice make you feel connected/ disconnected from the world? Does it make you feel a 
part of something else? 


 

. What are you feeling and thinking right after practice? 


 

. What reservations do you have about practice? 


 

. How do distractions affect you, e.g. noise, pain? 


 

. What are your expectations about what you will get out of practice? 


 

. How has your relationship to your body changed? 


 

. How has your relationship to yourself changed? 


 

 

 

 

 


Experiential Student presentation 

 

My pedagogy is one of student-centered active learning and I use a universal learning design. To facilitate 
this I include small group student presentations as part of the course. I provide the critical disciplinary 
context for all student presentations. The class will be divided into small groups of 3-4. Each group will 
delve deeper into a specialized topic in Stress Management and report back to the larger class as well as 
lead fellow students in an experiential exercise. The professor will introduce the presentation topic and 
then the student presentation will help it become alive for the class. Each group will be mentored by the 
professor toward readings and ways of presenting. Additionally, the professor will be actively engaged in 
each presentation, helping to draw out key points, or connect topics back to relevant issues. 

 

Presentation groups will have 45 minutes to make your presentation. The presentation will be in groups 
of 3-4 students. There will be a total of 7 presentations. Each group will meet with the Professor to 
discuss preparation of the presentation. This will give us a chance to touch base about your ideas and how 
to divide up the work. In addition, I require that you email me the three Research Articles you plan to 
present, so that I can review them and make sure they are appropriate. The presentation should make use 
of reading material other than the assigned readings, and must include at least five additional sources, two 
of which are included in an Annotate Bibliography for the class (the SCU Library has a wonderful 
handout on Annotated Bibliography). Please make sure references are not self-help books or articles from 
the popular press; they should be professional books or articles. 

 

Each presentation should contain the following: 

 

I. Power point is a helpful way to organize your presentation. Please use PPT unless you receive explicit 
permission from the professor to use an alternative means of presentation. 

 

II. Content: In developing the presentation, consider the major points you want to make and how they can 
be applied clinically. Content should include the following as appropriate: 

 

. What you see as key elements, concepts, and techniques associated with the topic 
. Highlight THREE Interesting Research articles about the topic 
. Questions you have and Directions for future research and clinical applications 


 

III. Experiential Exercise: It is very important to get the class involved and to give an experiential taste of 
the theory you are presenting. Means of presenting that you may want to use include: 

. role play 
. experiential exercise 
. small group exercises 
. guest expert (to be pre-approved by Professor) 


 

IV. Video: Please include a video as part of your presentation to give a taste of what the Stress 
Management topic looks like in vivo. If no video is available please email me to come up with another 
creative visual aid. 

 

V. Clinical Application: Presentation should incorporate a thoughtful in class discussion of how to put the 
topic into practice. The Professor will be actively involved in this process. 

 

VI. Class Discussion: It is important to leave some time for class discussion and questions. Be prepared to 
answer questions that the class may have. Also, you might consider coming up with some discussion 
questions, just in case the class doesn’t have questions of their own. You should expect me to participate 
actively in this discussion, attempting to maximize effective learning by class members. 

 

VII. Handouts (double-sided!!!) to be distributed at the time of presentation should include: 

. 1-page “cheat sheet” summarizing the major learning points and experiential exercise. 
. Presentation outline 



. Bibliography plus Annotated Bibliography of two important sources 
. Any other creative handouts 


 

Suggestions: 

. Involve the class as much as possible, creating interest and inspiration around this topic of special 
interest to you. 
. Make sure you do a run-through of your presentation so that you can make necessary adjustments 
in order to fill the time slot. 
. Contact Media Services to order any equipment you will need (TV, VCR, etc.): phone number is 
(408) 554-4520. 
. I suggest you begin to prepare your presentation early. Please feel free to meet with or email me 
while preparing for your presentation. 
. Please email me a final copy of your PPT presentation one week before so I can review it and 
respond for you to make changes before your presentation. 


 

 


Grading Rubric for Presentation 

 

CRITERIA 

EXEMPLARY 

GOOD 

ACCEPTABLE 

REWRITE 
REQUIRED 



Content and 
Theory (4 
pts) 

Balanced presentation of 
relevant and legitimate 
information that clearly supports 
a central purpose or argument 
and shows a thoughtful, in-depth 
analysis of a significant topic. 

Information provides 
reasonable support for a 
central purpose or 
argument and displays 
evidence of a basic 
analysis of a significant 
topic. 

Information supports a 
central purpose or 
argument at times. 
Analysis is basic or 
general. 

Central purpose argument is not 
clearly identified. 
Analysis is vague not evident. 

 

Clinical 
Application 
(4 pts) 

Student provides a sophisticated, 
concise description of the Stress 
Management interventions and 
how they can be applied 
clinically. 

Student provides a 
satisfactory description 
of the Stress 
Management 
interventions and how 
they can be applied 
clinically. 

Student provides a 
minimal description of 
the Stress Management 
interventions and how 
they can be applied 
clinically. 

Student does provide a 
description of Stress Management 
interventions how they can applied clinically. 

 

Future 
Directions (4 
pts) 

Student provides a reflective, 
creative and well-developed 
presentation of possible future 
directions for research and 
clinical applications of the Stress 
Management topic. 

Student provides a 
satisfactory 
presentation of possible 
future directions for 
research and clinical 
applications of the 
Stress Management 
topic. 

Student provides a 
minimal presentation of 
possible future directions 
for research and clinical 
applications of the Stress 
Management topic. 

Student does provide a 
presentation of 
possible future 
directions for 
research and applications of Stress Management 
topic. 

 

Quality and 
Use of 
References (4 
pts) 

Compelling evidence from 
professionally legitimate sources 
is given to support claims. 
Attribution is clear and fairly 
represented. 

References are primarily peer-
reviewed professional journals or 
other approved sources (e.g., 
government documents, etc.). 
The reader is confident that the 
information and ideas can be 
trusted. 

Professionally 
legitimate sources that 
support claims are 
generally present and 
attribution is, for the 
most part, clear and 
fairly represented. 

Although most of the 
references are 
professionally 
legitimate, a few are 
questionable (e.g., trade 
books, internet sources, 
popular magazines). 
The reader is uncertain 
of the reliability of 
some of the sources. 

Although attributions are 
occasionally given, many 
statements seem 
unsubstantiated. The 
reader is confused about 
the source of information 
and ideas. 

Most of the references 
are from sources that are 
not peer-reviewed and 
have uncertain 
reliability. The reader 
doubts the accuracy of 
much of the material 
presented. 

References are 
seldom cited support statements. 

There are virtually 
no sources that professionally 
reliable. The seriously doubts value of the material 
and stops reading. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Feel of 
Presentation 
& Quality of 
PowerPoint(4 
pts) 

The PPT is compelling. The 
presentation is vibrant and the 
sustains audience interest 
throughout. 

The PPT is generally 
engaging, but has some 
dry spots. In general, it 
is focused and keeps the 
audience’s attention. 

The PPT is unengaging. 
Though presentation has 
some interesting parts, 
the audience finds it 
difficult to maintain 
interest. 

The PTT and 
presentation have 
little personality. 
The audience 
quickly loses 
interest. 

 

Coherence 
and 

Thesis is clearly stated and 
developed; specific examples are 

Most information 
presented in logical 

Concept and ideas are 
loosely connected; lacks 

Presentation choppy and 

 








Organization 
(4 pts) 

appropriate and clearly develop 
thesis; conclusion is clear; shows 
control; flows together well; 
good transitions; succinct but not 
choppy; well organized 

sequence; generally 
very well organized but 
better transitions from 
idea to idea and 
medium to medium 
needed 

clear transitions; flow and 
organization are choppy 

disjointed; does flow; development 
of thesis is vague; 
no apparent logical 
order of present