Coping With Life Crises

This book examines new developments in the area of human competence and coping behavior. It sets forth a conceptual framework that considers the interplay between environmental contexts and personal resources and their impact on how indi viduals cope with life transitions and crises. The selections cover the tasks confronted in varied life crises and describe the coping strategies employed in managing them. The material identifies the long-term effects of such life events as divorce and bereave ment as well as the way in which these stressors can promote personal growth and maturity. The book contains a broad selec tion of recent literature on coping and adaptation, integrative commentaries that provide the background for each of the areas as well as conceptual linkages among them, and an introductory overview that presents a general perspective on human compe tence and coping. Illustrative case examples are included. The first part of the book is organized chronologically ac cording to developmental life transitions confronted by many people-from the childhood years through adolescence, career choice and parenthood, divorce and remarriage, middle age and retirement, and death and bereavement. The second part covers unusual life crises and other hazards that typically involve ex treme stress such as man-made and natural disasters and terrorism. The book highlights effective coping behavior among healthy individuals rather than psychological breakdown and psychiatric symptoms. The emphasis is on successful adaptation, the ability to cope with life transitions and crises, and the process by which such ix x PREFACf. ".

Why are some people happier than others? Through Sam, representing the average North American worker, we explore how one's life choices impact their happiness, and delve into the underlying reasons why. The average person's life is often filled with challenges, and with those come stress. How one deals with this stress has a profound impact on their happiness. Mental illness is having a negative impact on people's overall quality of life, including employees, families, employers, and on community safety. Many are asking, "Why does it appear as if more of my peers are experiencing negative mental health issues? Why is there no remedy offered? The Coping Crisis takes a journey through the eyes of Sam to explore mental health, stress, and the role of coping skills and how the lack of those skills impacts one's health. Sam's experiences help demonstrate how gaps in coping skills directly impact happiness, and show how one can improve their coping skills to improve their happiness and health.

This book discusses how human beings cope with serious physical ill ness and injury. A conceptual model for understanding the process of coping with the crisis of illness is provided, and basic adaptive tasks and types of coping skills are identified. The major portion of the book is organized around various types of physical illness. These physical illnesses, which almost all people face either in themselves or their family members, raise common relevant coping issues. The last few sections cover "the crisis of treatment," emphasizing the importance of unusual hospital environments and radical new medical treatments, of stresses on professional staff, and of issues related to death and the fear of dying. The material highlights the fact that people can successfully cope with life crises such as major ill ness and inj ury, rather than the fact that severe symptoms and/or breakdowns sometimes occur. The importance of support from professional care-givers, such as physicians, nurses, and social workers, and from family, friends, and other sources of help in the community, is emphasized. Many of the selections include case examples which serve to illustrate the material. Coping with Physical Illness has been broadly conceived to meet the needs of a diverse audience. There is substantial information about how human beings cope with illness and physical disability, but this material has never been collected in one place.

Psychological Crisis Intervention: The SAFER-R Model is designed to provide the reader with a simple set of guidelines for the provision of psychological first aid (PFA). The model of psychological first aid (PFA) for individuals presented in this volume is the SAFER-R model developed by the authors. Arguably it is the most widely used tactical model of crisis intervention in the world with roughly 1 million individuals trained in its operational and derivative guidelines. This model of PFA is not a therapy model nor a substitute for therapy. Rather it is designed to help crisis interventionists stabile and mitigate acute crisis reactions in individuals, as opposed to groups. Guidelines for triage and referrals are also provided. Before plunging into the step-by-step guidelines, a brief history and terminological framework is provided. Lastly, recommendations for addressing specific psychological challenges (suicidal ideation, resistance to seeking professional psychological support, and depression) are provided.

Why are some people happier than others? Through Sam, representing the average North American worker, we explore how one's life choices impact their happiness, and delve into the underlying reasons why. The average person's life is often filled with challenges, and with those come stress. How one deals with this stress has a profound impact on their happiness. Mental illness is having a negative impact on people's overall quality of life, including employees, families, employers, and on community safety. Many are asking, "Why does it appear as if more of my peers are experiencing negative mental health issues? Why is there no remedy offered? The Coping Crisis takes a journey through the eyes of Sam to explore mental health, stress, and the role of coping skills and how the lack of those skills impacts one's health. Sam's experiences help demonstrate how gaps in coping skills directly impact happiness, and show how one can improve their coping skills to improve their happiness and health.