Coping Essay : Coping In Mrs. Dalloway

Coping mechanisms are used almost as a buffer to provide comfort to an otherwise uncomfortable situation. They act usually as a small dose of normal in a strange situation.

Mrs. Dalloway is set in 1923, a time where mental illness was extremely looked down upon and seen as a sign of weakness—much more so than today. In Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf chose to write Septimus into the story and have him struggle with mental illness. Sadly, Septimus reaches a point where he would rather choose “death of the body instead of death of the soul” and he commits suicide by jumping out of a window (SparkNotes Editors). Many who read Virgina Woolf’s writing know that she herself struggled with depression and also showed signs of bipolar disorder which was often integrated in her writing. (ONU). Unfortunately, Woolf’s

The coping appraisal process takes into account the response efficacy and self-efficacy. In addition to these two constructs the cost of the recommended behavior is also taken into account. Response efficacy takes into account how well the adaptive behavior will alleviate the perceived threat. Instead of smoking, a person may try meditation or exercise to relieve stress. The effectiveness of the recommended behavior is different for everyone and meditation may work better for one

Effective coping is a key element that determines an individual’s ability to achieve resilience. Coping mechanisms are utilised by individuals to cope by improving the development and quality of resilience. Resilience is the ability to grow from experiencing hardship by embracing it and reframing it as a learning experience - to which the development of effective coping skills is imperative.

One coping mechanism that I will be using is from the chapter 9 in our book Cognitive Restructuring: Reframing. I am choosing this technique because I need to change the way perceive my stressors. I am someone who makes mountains out of molehills, and I often have anxiety attacks that affect my psychologically and physiologically well-being. I have reached a point where I can no longer continue living my life feeling physically and emotionally drained. I know something has to change. Therefore, to rid myself of the toxic thoughts that rule my life I have decided to make a change by applying the cognitive restructuring steps into my everyday life.

Leventhal et al. did not identify the type of their theory. However, the words and sentences that they mentioned in the CSM can categorize as a middle-range theory. The CSM was proposed to provide the framework for depicting the self-regulation when individuals have to encounter stress caused by an illness and understanding the processes involved in problem-coping. Leventhal et al. described that the CSM consists of three core concepts: representation of illness, coping, and coping appraisal. The relationship between the concepts was presented in the parallel processing system that interact as the individual adapts to each specific situation. These processes lead individuals to seek health care for acute illnesses and manage their illness for chronic conditions. Additionally, the CSM was used as a theoretical framework in research and applied in practice, particularly psychological, behavioral, and nursing fields. The results of study can make possible intervention which would help patients develop valid coping processes. Consequently, The CSM can be classified as a middle-range predictive theory.

After completing the “Coping with Stress Scale,” and averaging out my scores, I received an active-cognitive coping score of 2.09, an active-behavioral coping score of 1.61, and an avoidance coping score of one. These scores accurately describe my coping style because it says I use the active-cognitive coping style more frequently, and I do. I do use active efforts to construct thoughts to help cope with the problems. I always think of solutions to my problems, keeping my problems to myself. I always think I can manage to figure out a way to understand a problem that I’m having. The active-behavioral coping style score was spot on. My score indicated that I rarely use this style, and that’s very true. I rarely talk to others about my problems. The avoidance coping style score of one was also accurate. I very rarely keep my problems of out my awareness; I know my

Virginia Woolf and Toni Morrison both depict the fallout from traumatic historical events as a longstanding affair, often lasting generations and affecting those who are not even be directly involved in the trauma. Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and Morrison’s Song of Solomon do a marvelous job of portraying the macrocosm of traumatic historical events (World War I for Woolf, racist violence and slavery for Morrison), but more importantly they beautifully render the microcosm of how people suffer as a result of those events. Thanks to representations of various characters and the ways they cope or fail to cope with such trauma, Woolf and Morrison show the necessity of community in coping and how far-reaching a community can be in the way it affects people.

Adequate coping

According to the test my most prominent coping styles are planning and active coping because they were both the highest scores I got on the coping test. The ways I use to cope are healthy and effective ways to manage stressors because I don’t use them in negative ways. Planning can be positive or negative because you could make a plan of action with negative or positive consequences. Active coping can exhaust you if you concentrate too much effort into handling the stress, but has positive consequences if you take it slow by going one step at a time. My score of mental disengagement was fairly high, but not the highest I scored on within this coping test.

Coping techniques found useful, and that would benefit me the most in practice were; unsent letters, creative problem solving, forgiveness. Unsent letters was very cathartic it was a great way to release pent up anger I felt towards others without actually saying, “fuck you” to their faces. It was also good to express other things that I am unable too. Forgiveness is talked about briefly in the book on pages 354 and 355. “They describe it as an internal healing process where self-esteem is restored through devictimization, where toxic thoughts and emotions are diluted and released.”(Pg. 354) It is something that is difficult for me and I realize holding on to things to tightly are not conducive to a happy life or to a less stressful life.

Linear- straight forward, clean lines; this is not a synonym for life. If life could be portrayed in a single image, it would most closely resemble a spider’s web. The novel, Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, accurately describes a single day in the life of an average woman, Clarissa Dalloway, who is throwing a party. The author provides the reader multiple perspectives throughout the day to show that living involves several thoughts and actions happening all at once. Woolf offers many perspectives based on the connections that ordinary, everyday people make in their own thought. Life is fluid: thoughts and accompanying actions are not done one at a time, but constant and all at once. Woolf offers up perspectives about and from Clarissa as the vessel to which exposes the truth behind life.

Mrs. Dalloway, written by modernist author, Virginia Woolf reflects the disbelief and sense of loss that is represented in its modernist period, just after World War I. The novel follows the streams of consciousness of the main characters’ over the course of one day in contemporary London. Despite the rigid social structure which exists within the novel due to its British influences, Woolf highlights the awareness of the characters’ mortality and their desire for human connection. Ultimately, individuals are able to discover their true identity that is heavily influenced by Woolf’s values, attitudes and writing style mirrored by the contextual elements evident within Mrs. Dalloway.

This essay discusses coping, a complex process exercised by people to suppress, change, or eliminate stress or threat. This essay also discusses copers, that is, people who exhibit certain personality characteristics, known as distress resistant personality patterns, which can significantly influence whether they stay healthy or become ill. Also covered are coping strategies, -strategies people draw upon to solve life’s stressors, some

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).