Management theorists are keen to explain how to deal with 'work overload'. If you do this you will feel in charge and have control'. In other words, you have to manage the work your employer demands of you so that you do more in less time for the same money. If there is too much work and not enough staff to do it, the real solution is not writing lists and shuffling paper into priority piles, but more staff. And the employers control that resource.
Cooper is right to identify taking control of working lives as the solution to workplace problems.
But asking for counselling or going sick is no way to take control. Employees do need to find ways of halting the continual drive to make them work harder, but they will only succeed if they are strong enough to stand up to management's demands. Standing up for yourself means rejecting management's caricatures and their counsellors, and putting the blame for workplace problems where it belongs. If we did that, the only people who would be suffering stress would be the employers - and about time too.