Concept Analysis of Coping within Arthur Frank’s Novel using the Transactional Theory
Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to examine and analyze the concept of coping in the novel At the Will of the Body by Arthur Frank. The Theoretical framework for this paper is on the transactional T=theory of stress and coping by Richard Lazarus and Susan Folkman. The goal of this paper is to illustrate Arthur Frank’s coping mechanism and deliver tailored interventions to enhance his illness experience.
Definition
For the past nineteen years of my precious life, I experienced stress at least once. Whether it was distress or eustress. The various stressful situations influenced me to cope in different ways. Coping is defined to be a response by which individuals alter their cognition and behaviors to manage stressful situations that exceed their resources (Lazarus & Folkman as cited in Frydenbergg, 2014).
Theoretical framework It was not until the 1970s, whereby coping became a process, by which several theorists focused their research on how coping was linked to distinct outcomes (Frydenberg, 2014). These theorists focused their research primarily on how personal characteristics were antecedents of coping, evaluated how individuals coped to varied instances, and the attributes of the stressful circumstances people experienced. For instance, as a quiet person from childhood through adolescence, I coped to stressful situations through the internalization of feelings; whether
According to Janeway1, “stress is a physical or psychological stimulus which, when impinging upon an individual , produces strain or disequilibrium”.1 Stress is a biological, physiological and behavioural response to environmental demands. An appropriate amount of stress has protective and adaptive functions however a high amount of stress can cause pathological changes or even death.4 Exposure to stress can lead to painful emotions such as anxiety or depression, as well as physical illness.3 People under an overwhelming amount of stress may experience tachycardia, palpitations and rapid breathing.7
A person experiences stress when they perceive that the demands of their work are greater than their ability to cope. Coping means balancing the demands and pressures placed on you (i.e. the job requirements) with your skills and knowledge (i.e. your capabilities). For example, if you give a member of your team a tight deadline on a project they feel they have neither the skills nor ability to do well, they may begin to feel undue pressure which could result in work related stress.
Our book describes stress as “any circumstances that threaten or are perceived to threaten one’s well-being and tax one’s coping ability” (Weiten, 2014). Stress is not necessarily a traumatic, life destroying event. It can be as simple a small change in one’s daily schedule. People will have multiple stresses throughout their lifetime. Some will be little and daily, but overtime these add up and can affect you in many ways. Stress can be positive or negative and can take many forms; a few being frustration, internal conflict, change, and pressure. All of which make almost a daily appearance in my life (Weiten, 2014).
I needed to reduce my stress level if I wanted to get an A in the class. I used two coping strategies to overcome the stress I had. The strategies were emotion-focused coping and problem-focused coping. First, I decided to look
Discuss Richard Lazarus and Susan Folkman’s and stress and coping paradigm and in view of this paradigm explain age and individual difference in the experience and handling of stress
Coping is something that everyone has experienced in their lifetime, whether it be over something significant or insignificant we have all experienced it. In an academic journal published in 2003, authors Gerhard Anderson, and Mimmie Willebrand stated, “Coping has been defined as the process of managing demands (external or internal) that are appraised as taxing or exceeding the resources of the person” (S97). There have often been thought to be two main types of coping strategies, these strategies are problem-focused and emotional-focused coping (Heyman et al. 154). These two strategies differ from each other because, “problem-focused coping is often described as managing the problem, while emotion-focused coping is directed at regulating emotional responses to the problem” (Heyman et al. 154). Anderson and Willebrand have stated that coping is to serve two distinct purposes: to do away with the problem...and to regulate emotional reactions (S97). There are many different reasons that people cope and many different ways that people do it, but if not done right can cause a person emotional turmoil and make them inherit mental illnesses like depression and anxiety. Three ingredients in the conceptualization of coping are as follows, (1) coping need not be successful, but an effort must be made; (2) this effort need not be expressed in actual behavior, but can affect cognition as well; and (3) a cognitive appraisal of the taxing situation is a prerequisite for initiating coping attempts (Anderson and
Frydenberg and colleagues discuss the ability to influence young children’s coping styles from the perspective of social and emotional competence, which have been identified as a protective factor against emotional and behavioural difficulties (Denham, 2006). Emotions have been argued to underlie the development of problem-solving ability (Izard, 2002). According to Eisenberg and colleagues’ (1997) definition, coping is a subset of the broader category of self-regulation in response to stress. Three aspects of self-regulation are theorised that involve attempts to regulate the emotion, the situation and emotionally driven behaviour. Furthermore, they argued that coping is not always conscious and intentional (Eisenberg et al., 1997); coping consists of regulation of internal emotional arousal and behaviour, as well as the regulation of the source of emotional arousal (Liew et al., 2003). Denham and colleagues (2003) reported that young children often need external assistance to modify their emotional reactions. Parents and teachers reported the link between this emotional regulatory coping and social competence (Eisenberg et al., 1995). Emotional competence in 3 and 4 year olds impacted social competence at the same ages and in the subsequent year (Denham et
According to our textbook, anything that places a demand on the body can cause stress (p.66). Emotion-focused coping strategies aim to reduce and control the intensity of the negative and distressing emotions that a stressful situation has cause rather than finding the solution of the problematic situation itself. Therefore, these coping strategies help us feel better but don’t resolve the source of our distress. Sometimes the strategies are used when one is not up to utilizing problem solving strategies or when the stressor is discerned to be too great for solving. Emotion focused coping increases the feeling of satisfaction, positivity and pleasure in our lives and therefore allow us to increase our ability to focus on that which we can change. Emotion-focused forms of coping that are
As it states in the book, coping is “the thoughts and behaviors used to manage the internal and external demands of situations that are appraised as stressful” (Introduction to Health Behaviors, pg. 135). So, when we are going through a stressful life event, we react in varieties of ways to make the stress go away or make it better. Everyone, reacts to stress differently. There are two type of strategies that concentrated on decreasing the negative emotion a person has after the stressful event, which is called “emotion-focused coping”. Then, there is a second strategy called “problem-focused coping”, that attempts to do something helpful with a stressful situation that may be harming (Introduction to Health Behaviors, pg.140). For example,
This is because the theoretical model is composed of variables which help sustain an individual's well being. This includes dispositional variables within a challenge appraisal, the cognitive reappraisal processes as well a coping style with intentions of reaching a goal. Also, factors such as the effect of an individual's illness on their identity, roles/responsibilities, relationships and expenses are all considered to affect an individual's well being. The model is composed of two main processes : appraisal and coping. Appraisal refers to an individual's personal evaluation of the event and awareness of different coping strategies which further influences their emotion and coping style. Coping refers to the techniques or steps an individual takes in order to manage the stress they are feeling in order to have a better outcome as well as maintain positive well being (meaning-based
Coping is the individual ability to deal with and try to overcome problems and difficulties experience by stress. Perceived stress describes the process through which individuals perceive stress and stressors very differently and may be able to manage with other stressors more effectively given their individual coping resources.
Coping is the cognitive and behavioral efforts engaged by a person in facing difficulties from nerve-wracking person-environment transaction (Lazarus, 1993; Ntoumanis, Edmunds, and Duda, 2009). Successful coping can lead an individual to healthier quality of life, stable intellectual condition, and lower rate of ailments (Aldwin, 2000; Ntoumanis, Edmunds, and Duda, 2009). Coping styles can also result in progressive changes (eg., adaptation to illness, caregiving responsibilities, and body image
nature of this has not yet been clearly established (Matud, 2004). Coping has been defined as the
Coping strategies refer to the specific efforts, both behavioral and psychological, that people employ to master, tolerate, reduce or minimize stressful events. There are two general coping strategies which have been distinguished. Problem-focused strategies are efforts to do something active to alleviate stressful circumstances, where as emotion-focused coping strategies involve efforts to regulate the emotional consequences of stressful or potentially stressful events. Typically, people use both problem-focused and emotion-focused coping in their stressful episodes, which suggests that both types of coping are useful for most stressful events (Folkman & Lazarus, 1980).
Coping-Stress Tolerance Pattern. its focused on the person’s perception of stress and coping strategies Support systems, evaluated symptoms of stress, effectiveness of a person’s coping strategies.