There is no doubt that Sarah Palin has hit the American scene like a moose crashing through your front garden. She presents a compelling combination of features. First off, and the media doesn’t play this up, she is extremely attractive. The media call this telegenic and she is the most telegenic politician in America. She also has a popular appeal of being a smalltown mom in America’s last frontier. And some people say that she is the Princess Di for the US.

Thousands of people are writing about Sarah Palin at present and they probably have better qualifications to comment on her than do I. Living in Alaska and some 40 miles from Sarah’s home town of Wasilla gives me a slight local edge. This hardly qualifies me to write on how Sarah manages stress. But, as someone interested in the psychology of stress, the simple question of how well Sarah Palin handles stress seemed important to me.

I have watched one interview with Sarah and noted how comfortably assured she was. It would be very interesting to explore Sarah’s ability to handle emotional issues, not only political and economic issues. She always looks fantastic on TV but she has a huge number of roles to manage. Besides the current presidential campaign, she still has to govern Alaska. She still has a family to manage. So how does she manage stress and how well does she do this?

There is no doubt in my mind that Sarah is relying on what is called eustress. This is positive stress that occurs when we are presented with exciting challenges. When we feel positive about these challenges we rely on the neurochemicals that flood our system, cortisol and adrenaline, to keep us in a high energy state. This is good stress unlike the usual view of stress which is seen as negative and dysfunctional. Distress causes a range of nervous responses, for example, sweating, loss of confidence, lack of fluency in oral presentations, and general inability to be able to cope if the stress is sustained.

Those events or stimuli that cause stress are called, obviously, stressors. Just stop and wonder for a moment about the range and intensity of stressors with which Sarah is currently dealing. How many are there? How does she cope with them?

Cary Cooper, a British psychologist who has a huge research background in stress, recently reported on his study of stress in politicians. The study found that six months after taking up office, politicians were reporting elevated levels of stress. The signs included loss of confidence, sleeping problems, drinking and eating too much, feeling constantly under strain and showing increasing lack of motivation. The reasons for the stress were clear: a large workload, up to 70 hours work per week, a lot of travel, and very little time with family.

Journalists are fascinating people. They seem to swing from idealising to demonising people. Sarah Palin is getting a lot of negative press currently because there is a feeling that she has abrogated her responsibilities as Governor of Alaska to the McCain political team. Alaskans have a strong sense of dissociation from what we call outsiders, that is, people from the lower 48 states. So Sarah is getting a lot of local criticism and the problems with the Troopergate enquiry are not helping her case. These and her son’s deployment must be adding to her stress.

But there are other sources of stress as well. Sarah has been thrust on to the political and international stage. While there is no doubt that she has the background and skill to handle Alaskan issues, political journalists have questioned her credibility in national and international affairs. Given the current bailout and economic crisis, how competent is she to address major financial issues? Given Russia’s recent incursion into Georgia, can she handle sophisticated diplomatic negotiations? Does she have enough understanding of the taxation system at the national level?

Constant tension and uncertainty could lead to feelings of insecurity and lack of confidence. Being interviewed repeatedly on a wide range of issues can be challenging for extremely experienced politicians. Criticism in the media and unfair representation in cartoons can destabilize a politician quickly.

So, how does Sarah Palin handle stress? What strategies does she used to manage the tension? These are the questions which would make for a fascinating interview. My educated guess would be that she uses many productive stress management strategies. Many of these strategies would derive from a high-level of emotional self-awareness and a strong sense of purpose.

If Sarah were to be Vice President, how effectively would she be able to manage all the complicated and constant stressors of that office? What would be the strategies that she would employ? I believe that her strong sense of God’s purpose in her life is the fundamental basis for her self-assurance. There is no question that she is ambitious and driven. She is a competitor and enjoys the challenge of competition. She has the support of the First Dude, her husband Todd Palin. She has a strong sense of conviction about what is right and wrong and she has a built a strong base for herself as a reformer. All of these fundamental values and beliefs provide Sarah Palin with excellent stress management strategies.