High Stress Inundates High-Tech Industry

The fast-paced world of computer technology is leading to stresses and strains, and even defections from a pressure-cooker environment that psychologists say will get worse before it gets better.

In an industry that prides itself on having “user friendly” chips, circuitry and communications gear that is always getting speedier, smaller and smarter, there is a frequent breakdown of a most valuable resource--its people.

In Northern California’s hectic Silicon Valley area of Santa Clara County, there’s a new buzzword-- balance --that comes from an innovative but vague concept called stress management.

Balance, says Jean Hollands, a psychotherapist and director of Growth and Leadership Consultants in Mountain View, simply means gaining an equilibrium between work and leisure, mind and body.

“It’s to let employees know they can balance their jobs and home life; that it’s all right to go to Little League and so on,” Hollands says. “Companies aren’t practicing it, but they’re beginning to talk about it. It doesn’t mean that it’s all right if there’s a major project.”

Hollands, whose clients include some 150 Silicon Valley firms, says those working in the high-tech industry, from keyboard operators to hardware engineers, generally encounter more stress than the average person and exhibit more mental and physical symptoms as a result.

Main Source Is Attitudinal

She sees the main source of stress to be attitudinal, and, for relief, she relies on a training program that teaches basic communications--or how to relate to others--for people lost in the nanosecond culture of machines and linear thinking.

“Communications skills are necessary,” Hollands says. “People with built-up stress don’t even realize it until they’ve had a heart attack, stroke or ulcer.”

Even physical exercise, she says, is often a manifestation of stress for overachievers. Instead of jogging, for example, they are attracted to such ultra-endurance events as triathlons.

“I believe this is the most conscientious group of human beings in any one geographical location on earth,” Hollands says. “If there was a test for perfectionism, this group would pass with flying colors.

“People down here don’t know how to play. They work at play.”

An expert in relationships and author of a marital-survival guide, “The Silicon Syndrome,” Hollands says the soaring divorce rate once prevalent in the valley has slowed down and is nearly at the national average today. However, she says the stresses haven’t decreased, and may even be greater because of the financial pressures of living in the expensive region and the percentage of families with both partners working.

“I think we are in the forefront here of acknowledging that changing partners doesn’t always fix a stressful situation. The disease AIDS has also created a sexual depression.

‘No Relief Valve’

“People are not sexually acting out anymore, so they have to stay with what’s at home. They’re attempting to make their marriages work here in the valley, and I think in the United States, and that adds to stress--there’s no relief valve of reaching out to someone else.”

Stress on the job isn’t always bad. A little stress can make the adrenaline flow, give spark to creativity and edge the psyche toward peak performance. On the negative side, stress can lead to a variety of illnesses, the use of drugs or alcohol or even total mental or physical breakdown.

But in Silicon Valley, Hollands says, heavy drinking is often shunned by the health-conscious young urban professionals.

“Alcoholism isn’t a popular sport here,” she says.

In a study by the National Center for Health Statistics, more than half of some 40,000 workers surveyed reported feeling “moderate” or “a lot” of stress. The insurance industry estimates the cost to business of stress-related problems and mental illness at $150 billion annually.

Alan Brauer of the Brauer Medical Center in Palo Alto says there is a wide variety of stress-related ailments, both physical and mental, that he treats with biofeedback, massage, hypnotism, acupuncture and electro-therapy.

“Silicon Valley is a real hotbed for stress-related problems--the great masquerader in medicine today,” says Brauer, an assistant clinical professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University.

Pressures in the technological terrain, he says, included earning top pay because of the area’s extremely high standard of living. Competition in product development is also deadly, leading to long hours on the job with resulting strains on relationships and family life.

“There is a competitive element in the valley of needing and wanting to get ahead faster,” Brauer says. “There is this ‘Alice in Wonderland’ sense that no matter what you do there is so much more you can do and that is possible. They’re creating change that is new and exciting--and rapid change automatically creates stress.”

When people don’t adapt to stress, he says, their system simply overloads, resulting in such physical symptoms as headaches, high blood pressure, ulcers, heart disorders, asthma, allergic reactions and digestive problems.

“Almost any problem a person would seek medical attention for could be stress-related,” Brauer says. “There are emotional problems as well that may not be recognized as relating directly to stress, such as depression, phobias and sleep disorders.”

At the clinic, he says, people are given a complete examination and every possible physical cause for the problem is looked at to determine if there is a treatable medical condition present.

“This gives us the confidence to go ahead and look at the ways we can influence the imbalance that has occurred in the body. We look at a person’s energy systems, their thinking style, the way they eat and how they handle time and conflict.”

After pinpointing stressful areas that need changing, Brauer uses combinations of techniques to accomplish the goal. In one treatment called “electro-relaxation,” two sensors are attached to the earlobes and electronic signals are relayed to the brain to stimulate the production of endorphins, which are the body’s natural sedative.

Acupuncture Used at Times

Combined with hypnosis and other relaxation methods, Brauer says, the brain and body become integrated and balanced, resulting in a calmer, healthier person.

Oftentimes, he adds, a purely physical approach is taken, such as acupuncture for acute headaches.

To prevent stress, Brauer says, people should take breaks on the job and do simple exercises, take a walk or even jog. People at computer terminals, he says, can learn mini-relaxation processes that only take a minute or two to do but can be extremely helpful in relieving unneeded stress.

“Some stress allows a lot of creative work and productive activity to occur. It’s not entirely negative, but it’s a question of balance,” Brauer says. “You can function more efficiently if you take a break from it.”

Brauer says the machines he uses at the clinic, such as a galvanic skin response unit--a fancy lie detector--are appreciated in Silicon Valley by people accustomed to relating more to technology than to their cohorts.

“They are intrinsically comfortable and respectful of the process. Of course that’s not true everywhere.”

Brauer says big companies, especially with soaring health insurance costs, should take the forefront in evaluating areas of stress and in using intervention programs as a form of preventive medicine before their best workers get sick or burn out.

Or quit?

Oakland psychologist Craig Brod says the demanding pace and stress, which most companies go out of their way to ignore, is causing a massive defection or “brain drain” from the nation’s high-tech zones.

To stem this migration of discontent, Brod says he has tried without success to interest computer companies into funding a study of stress and technology similar to those being done in Japan, Scandinavia and Western Europe.

Broad Problem Avoided

Although some companies, such as Hewlett-Packard, Apple, AT&T; and Safeway, have programs to encourage employees to wind down and exercise with spas, laughter clinics and “beer busts,” Brod says the broad problem is avoided.

“It’s the old story; the vendors didn’t want any association with the word stress . There’s a great big denial going on. They could implement technology more effectively, but instead they’re repeating a proverbial ill.”

DEALING WITH STRESS

Here are some symptoms of stress and ways that people can cope with pressures as suggested by psychologists and the American Institute of Stress.

Warning signs of stress: Headaches, irritability, unexplained and frequent illnesses. Nervousness, rapid pulse, increased use of alcohol or drugs. Insomnia, high blood pressure, loss of concentration, persistent fatigue.

Tips for dealing with stress: Exercise, use relaxation techniques or meditate. Laugh a lot, maintain balanced diet. Limit intake of alcohol and caffeine. Discuss problems with families and friends. Enjoy a massage, hot tub or sauna. Confront the boss with your gripes. Quit the job.

Relaxation technique For people working at computer terminals, Dr. Alan Brauer of the Brauer Medical Center in Palo Alto suggests a simple two-minute exercise done three times a day to help relax tensions and stress: * Sit in a chair, feet flat on the floor, hands resting at the side, neck slumped forward, eyes closed. * Count down from 22 to zero, visualizing each number and concentrating on the breathing. Concentrate on the cool air being breathed in and the warm air being exhaled as each number is counted. If distracted, return to the last number that was counted. * “Visualizing each number is a neutral phenomenon. It’s a way of assisting the mind to go into neutral and allows natural relaxation reflexes to occur.”