'Coping' and the Crisis Counsellor

In the last decade the theory of coping strategies and the development of coping-skills-training and stress-management programmes have been a major innovative feature of British and American developments in relation to stress and crisis counselling. This paper-reviews the available coping literature of relevance to crisis counselling practice. The theory of psychological reversals is used to provide a link with crisis theory.     

Sense of Coherence, Ways of Coping, and Well Being of Married and Divorced Mothers

The study examines sense of coherence and ways of coping as personality resources capable of helping divorced mothers deal with the divorce crisis. The findings show that although mothers from two parent families enjoy a higher sense of well being than divorced mothers, the well being of both groups was predicted by sense of coherence. They also show that mothers with higher sense of coherence used more effective coping strategies and derived more benefit from the strategies they used. The married and divorced mothers have a similar sense of coherence level. More study is needed to ascertain precisely how sense of coherence contributes to well being, as well as to the choice and effectiveness of coping strategies.     

Mothers,fathers, and the crisis of newborn intensive care

At hospital discharge of their infant from a newborn intensive care unit, 50 mothers and fathers were interviewed and completed questionnaires. There were significant within-couple correlations for appraisals of the harm that ensued from this crisis, perceptions of personal control over the infant's recovery, and expectations about the infant's future health and development. Mothers perceived more personal control, mobilized more social support, and used more escapist coping strategies than did fathers. Mothers and fathers exhibited different patterns of relations between their own coping strategies and emotional well-being. But, neither the coping strategies used by one's spouse nor differences between spouses in the use of individual coping strategies correlated with emotional well-being. Analysis of parents' perceived differences between their own and their partner's coping strategies suggested the possibility of mutually helpful, complementary strategies of coping with this problem.     

Coping with Missile Attack: Resources, Strategies, and Outcomes

ABSTRACT The coping process was examined in a group of Israeli subjects experiencing SCUD missile attacks during the Persian Gulf War. We were interested in examining the relationship of coping resources, optimism, perceived control, and coping strategies, to anxiety, to physical symptoms, and to cognitive functioning during a real crisis. Data were gathered via structured questionnaires in the midst of the Persian Gulf War (February 1991) on a sample of 261 adult respondents residing in northern Israel. Although people reported a mixture of palliative and active coping strategies, it was the use of palliative coping efforts that predicted greater anxiety and physical symptoms. Subjects with greater coping resources used more palliative and active coping strategies and had higher cognitive functioning. However, active coping did not predict any of the negative stress reactions (i.e., anxiety and physical symptoms). People who perceived being in control of the situation reported using less palliative coping and fewer symptoms. That active coping did not predict negative stress reactions may have been a function of the severity of the stressor, and the resultant high levels of anxiety that were engendered. Overall, these findings do point to a different coping process in a grave and ongoing disaster situation than that reported in reaction to more normal life events.     

Approaching Complex Cases With a Crisis Intervention Model and Teamwork

Patients referred for genetic counseling may be in a state of crisis, feeling as though they are incapable of making decisions about the management of their pregnancy, genetic testing options and/or life planning issues. The role of the genetic counselor is to assist a patient through this crisis state by increasing the patient's understanding and by helping to facilitate decision making and adjustment to those decisions. In this paper we present a clinical genetic counseling case that was complicated by numerous medical and psychosocial issues. The wide scope of this case required the involvement of both a prenatal and a medical genetic counselor. Working as a team we utilized a crisis intervention model. Our counseling focused on identifying and isolating the issues, providing factual information, setting a time frame for decisions to be made, and encouraging social support and emotion-focused coping strategies.     

The family of the severely handicapped child: the sibling perspective

The presence of a severely handicapped child is a source of prolonged crisis and stress for the child's family. Parents may redefine their roles and develop coping strategies aimed at responding to the needs of the handicapped child but which may hamper the development of well siblings. Two cases of siblings of severely handicapped children who developed adjustment difficulties are presented and discussed from a family system perspective.     

Teachers’ high maintenance behaviour as perceived by university students in Taiwan,and their coping strategies

Using a questionnaire survey, this study probed into interpersonal cues and characteristics of teachers’ high maintenance behaviors perceived by university students and their coping strategies, and then analyzed the relationship between their perceived high maintenance behaviors and the dimensions of their coping strategies. The Scale of Teachers’ High maintenance Behaviors and the Scale of Coping with Teachers’ High maintenance Behaviors were used as the measurement tools. The subjects were 248 university students, of which 59.3 % were male and 40.7 % were female. According to the research results, the subjects mostly suggested that they define teachers as being high maintenance after getting along with them for one to two weeks and communicating with them using 6–20 sentences. The subjects also suggested that the ranking of the behavioral characteristics of the most significant high maintenance behaviors of teachers is: being old-fashioned, followed by rule followers, idealization, and irresponsible opinions. According to the scores, the ranking of the subjects’ coping strategies for high maintenance behaviors of teachers is obedience and endurance, followed by gentle resistance, compromise, and obvious unhappiness. There is a significant correlation between teachers’ high maintenance behaviors perceived by university students and the dimensions of their coping strategies. It was found that teachers’ high maintenance behaviors perceived by university students could significantly predict the dimensions of coping strategies. Based on the above, this study proposed some suggestions and provided a discussion for university teachers and future studies.     

Gender Group Differences in Coping with Chronic Terror: The Israeli Scene

Gender group differences in terror–stress, cognitive appraisals, ways of coping with terror, and stress reactions were explored in a sample of Israeli adults following prolonged exposure to political violence. Data were gathered at the height of the Al-Aqsa Intifada uprising (May/July 2002) from a sample of 707 adult participants (60% women and 40% men) residing in Haifa and northern Israel. Israeli women reported that they were more distressed by political violence than the men did, and they also appraised the crisis situation as more threatening and less manageable. Women reported using more problem-focused as well as emotion-focused coping than men did; both men and women used a mixture of coping strategies. Compared to men, women reported that they experienced more somatic symptoms and more frequent posttraumatic stress symptoms than men did. Negative affectivity was found to mediate gender differences in appraisals, coping, and outcomes. Overall, the nexus of relations among key variables was found to be highly similar for men and women. These data suggest that women may be more reactive to chronic political violence situations than men are. The data are discussed and explicated in the context of stress and coping theory and prior research on political violence and community disasters.     

Children's Affective Reactions and Coping Under Threat of Missile Attack: A Semiprojective Assessment Procedure

This study reports on 170 Israeli school children at risk for missile attack during the Persian Gulf War, The Bar-Ilan Picture Test for Children (Itskowitz & Strauss, 1982, 1986) was specially adapted to the war situation specifically to measure children's affective reactions and coping strategies. Children with a greater sense of control and social support, and more complex defenses, tended to demonstrate better coping strategies. Children who were less defensive showed higher levels of anxiety under stress. Children scoring higher in social support showed greater perceived control over their immediate environment and more verbal expressivity with respect to the crisis situation. Girls scored higher than boys on emotional and verbal expressiveness. These data, elicited through semiprojective procedures, are consistent with much of the prior research based mainly on objective scales or self-report questionnaires. Overall, the results lend additional validity to the nexus of relations (largely established through conventional objective scales) between resources, coping, and outcomes in a naturalistic stressor situation.     

Coping strategies: A prospective study of patterns,stability, and relationships with psychological distress

The aims of this article are: (1) to explore patterns (clusters) of coping strategies; (2) to examine the stability of individual coping strategies and patterns of coping over time; and (3) to establish long term associations between coping and psychological distress. Coping strategies were assessed with the Brief Cope questionnaire, whereas psychological distress was measured with the ten‐item version of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist, in a two‐year prospective sample comprising 3,738 employees. Based on TwoStep cluster analysis of the Brief Cope, three different coping patterns were identified: low coping, engagement coping, and disengagement coping. Analyses of long‐term stability indicated malleable properties for the individual coping strategies as well as the three clusters. Disengagement coping strategies in the form of self‐blame and self‐distraction were most strongly associated with distress at follow‐up, whereas baseline distress was related to increased use of these strategies two years later. Coping patterns at baseline had no main effects on later levels of distress, but levels of distress at baseline predicted subsequent use of engagement and disengagement coping patterns. The finding that specific coping strategies are malleable suggests that it is possible to modify and develop dysfunctional strategies. The associations between disengagement coping strategies and distress indicate that this kind of coping is especially problematic with regard to mental health problems. A main contribution of this study is that it establishes cluster analytic techniques as beneficial in the assessment of coping.     

危机应对策略对消费者矛盾态度和购买意愿的影响

采用2×2两因素被试间实验设计探讨初始矛盾态度及危机应对策略对消费者矛盾态度和购买意愿的影响。结果表明:当消费者初始矛盾态度水平较低时更可能受辩解策略的影响,从而使其负面态度和矛盾态度下降; 当消费者初始矛盾态度水平较高时更可能受和解策略的影响,从而使其负面态度和矛盾态度下降; 正面态度/负面态度可以显著正向/负向预测消费者的购买意愿,矛盾态度在其中起调节作用,即矛盾态度水平越高,正面/负面态度与购买意愿之间关系的不确定性越高。     

Anxiety and coping with community disasters: The Israeli experience

This study compared anxiety levels and coping strategies in Israeli adults during the Al-Aqsa Intifada (n = 707) and under ballistic missile attacks targeted at Israeli civilians during the Persian Gulf War (n = 328). In view of the differences among the two disaster situations in terms of severity of impact, scope, duration, predictability, and controllability, it was hypothesized that higher levels of state anxiety would be observed for the terror attack than for the missile attack crisis. Furthermore, problem-focused coping was predicted to be more salient than emotion-focused coping during the Gulf War—at a time where more protective action could be taken. Overall, the data supported the hypotheses. The data are discussed and explicated in the context of stress and coping theory and research.     

Posttraumatic symptoms and growth of Kosovar war refugees: The influence of hope and cognitive coping

Research on war trauma has been dominated by a pathological focus for decades. Researchers have now counterbalanced studies of trauma with a new focus, positive changes following crisis. This prospective study examines how specific psychological factors might influence post-war adaptive outcomes (the coexistence of posttraumatic growth [PTG] and posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD] symptoms) in a sample of 50 Kosovar war refugees. Individual differences in positive attitude and coping strategies were explored. Hope assessed during resettlement, and cognitive coping strategies, employed between resettlement and follow-up, were associated with PTG, controlling for war-related trauma and baseline symptoms. PTG and symptoms were unrelated. No predictors for present symptoms were identified. Future mental health practice with refugees should address both positive and negative aspects.     

Goethes Studienkrise, Depression und seine Selbstbehandlungsstrategien

From a present day diagnostic viewpoint Goethe suffered from several episodes of depression beginning with his study crisis. In addition he wrote that he had a tendency towards dysthymic moods. In terms of modern psychotherapeutic procedures the various levels of Goethe’s self-therapy strategies are remarkable: acceptance of helpful bonding and relationships, correction of dysfunctional behavior and modification of pathogenic conceptions and beliefs as well as remembrance, enactment and mentalization of psychodynamic conflicts. Finally at an existential level his salutogenic strategies served to invoke a sence of coherence often threatened in his life. Anxieties, dysthymic moods, lack of self-esteem and existential conflicts were for him not only the reason and motive for realization of his extraordinary artistic potential. For modern psychotherapists and patients it is interesting that the acceptance of dysthymic moods and psychological conflicts and the transformation through relationships, cognitive behavior-oriented and psychodynamic strategies as well as an existential self-effective striving also lead to everyday creativity, i.e. coping with life.     

社会支持系统在中学生学业压力源和应对策略间的中介作用

采用问卷法对551名中学生的学业压力源、社会支持系统对其应对策略的影响进行研究,结果发现:不同的学业压力源类型及社会支持系统的不同作用方向分别对三种应对策略有不同的预测作用:(1)竞争压力对被动应对策略有直接影响,挫折压力对维持应对策略和主动应对策略有直接影响;(2)发展压力和任务要求压力通过冲突和惩罚等具有反向作用的支持系统间接影响三种应对策略,即具有反向作用的妨碍支持在发展压力、任务要求压力与三种应对策略间具有中介作用;(3)任务要求压力通过肯定与支持、陪伴、满意度等具有正向作用的支持系统间接影响维持应对策略和主动应对策略,即具有正向作用的积极支持在任务要求压力与维持应对策略、主动应对策略间具有中介作用。     

Medical crisis counseling: A new service delivery model

The diagnosis or exacerbation of a chronic illness, the aftermath of a serious accident, or worries about future in the context of illness or debilitating injury are all examples of medical crises that pose significant coping challenges. Too often, traditional approaches to psychotherapy have been unable to respond the most urgent needs of people confronting such crises. Medical crisis counseling is a specialized approach to addressing the needs of individuals and families confronted by the difficulties of coping with losses or changes, as well as the challenge of living with long-term illness. This paper describes the medical crisis counseling model in contrast with other more traditional intervention approaches.     

Israeli adolescents' coping strategies in relation to terrorist attacks

Exposure to terrorism seriously threatens the well-being of children and adolescents. Israeli citizens have witnessed massive ongoing terrorist attacks during the last few years. The present research, conducted among 330 Israeli adolescents, examined coping strategies in relation to terrorist attacks. We found that adolescents utilize more productive than non-productive coping strategies when dealing with terrorist attacks. Moreover, they rarely seek professional help. Male adolescents use more non-productive coping strategies and female adolescents seek more social support as a coping strategy. The impact of exposure to media reports and life satisfaction on adolescents' use of coping strategies is discussed, and potentially effective approaches to coping with terrorist attacks are proposed.     

Surviving and coping with loneliness

Content analysis of 526 verbatim reports of loneliness revealed both helpful and nonhelpful coping strategies. The helpful strategies were grouped into three clusters that represent three distinct phases of the coping process. Eleven factors were subsumed under the three clusters. Four additional factors comprised the cluster of destructive and nonbeneficial coping strategies. The present study highlights the complexity and variety of coping strategies as well as the frequency with which they are used and their utility in helping people to survive loneliness and alienation.