After completing the Holmes Rahe scale I had a score of 108, which falls into the relatively low stress level category over the past year. However, I don’t think that this is an accurate score on a personal level as I feel that I have definitely very stressed this year with certain things ,mainly university work, body image and eating problems and personal relationship problems. I do find the tool useful, however I think that the tool is only useful if the questions relate to you and your personal circumstances, I feel that the scale doesn’t take into consideration, wider issues that may be relevant today or things that may relate to older or younger people. I know that my score would be much, much higher if the questions were related to my situation or there was a wider range of questions related to mental health problems or factors that are more prominent in our society today such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders, work loads on different age groups etc.

                I combat stress in different ways, sometimes I tackle it head on and sometimes I just crumble and cry. I mainly listen to music to combat stress, however, sometimes I like to go a walk or just take a break and watch some tv. I think that it also depends on the situation and how I’m feeling at the time as sometimes if its something that has really annoyed me I get very angry and snap at people which is not good and something I am trying to tackle to get rid of this emotional reaction or I try and just count to ten, If I am upset I try and count to ten or just like to be alone.