From the beginning, disaster has etched itself into the very core of mankind. Disasters continue today, more violently and destructive than ever before. In the past two decades alone, there are multiple counts of disaster that still cause much distress from the mere mention of the name – September 11th, 2001; Hurricane Katrina in 2005; Hurricane Ike in 2008’ the 2010 Haiti earthquake; the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami of 2011; the Sandy Hook elementary shooting in 2012; the Boston Marathon bombings of 2013 – all of these are still the source of much sorrow and anger in many people’s lives. Disasters leave their mark in more ways than one, whether it’s property damage or monetary damage or taking the lives of many or few, they scar humans and leave destruction in their wake. The recovery process is often the government stepping in and aiding with money, volunteers donating money, and Red Cross helping out the families and people affected. But, where is the help for the people affected mentally? Physically and monetarily, they can recover but the trauma left from these disasters are what affect us the most. Because disasters leave so much damage - property, money, lives - in order for one to recover, the system of coping is required.
There are two different approaches of coping as defined by Richard S. Lazarus – one that emphasizes style—treating coping as a personality trait—and the other that emphasizes processes—efforts to manage stress that change over time and are shaped by the adaptive context that it is generated (Lazarus 234). Coping has been around for quite some time, though it’s only recently (during the 1960s and 1970s) garnered much attention and research. From theories stemming from Freud and research filled with ques...
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Reevy, Gretchen, and Erica Frydenberg. "Adolescent Coping Styles And Task-Specific Responses." Personality, Stress, and Coping: Implications for Education. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Pub., 2011. 3-23. Web.
Drea Knufken’s thesis statement is that “As a society, we’ve acquired an immunity to crisis” (510-512). This means that humans in general, or citizens of the world, have become completely desensitized to disasters, we think of them as just another headline, without any understanding of their impact upon fellow
Tragedy strikes at every hour of the day, no matter where in the world a person lives. The true test of a person’s humanity is how they handle the tragedy. All over the country, people are hit with life-changing catastrophes and feel hopeless. Taking their feelings out on others around them who are just trying to help, their pain translates into the bad traits of humanity such as selfishness, conceitedness, and unreliability. Others, though, work through their struggles and show the world how strong they can really be.
middle of paper ... ... The. “Hurricane Andrew: The Human Side of Recovery.” Disaster Recovery Journal, System Support Inc. 1 Sept. 2001. Web.
Natural disaster can be traumatic events that have a huge impact on the mental health of communities often resulting in an increase in mental health needs that don’t get met. In 2005, one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. History, Hurricane Katrina, hit the states of Louisiana and Mississippi affecting 90,000 square miles. In addition to the 2000 people killed and million displaced as a result of the Hurricane, a significant number of people, according to multiple studies, suffered and continue to suffer from mental health issues including stress, anxiety, depression and PTSD. After the Hurricane, communities were both physically and emotionally devastated leaving individuals without loved ones, homes, belongings or jobs (Rhodes, J., Chan, C., Paxson, C., Rouse, C. E., Waters, M. and Fussell, E., 2010. p. 238). The Gulf Coast, whose mental health system had been obliterated by the Hurricane, was in desperation of mental health services in order to prevent chaos and initiate recovery immediately. The U.S. government did not provide sufficient services; thus, illustrating how the affected communities’ mental health needs weren’t being met and continue to not be met today. The survivors of Hurricane Katrina did not receive sufficient mental health services due to lack of government action and lack of programs with the capacity to assist large numbers of people which resulted in the individuals and communities affected to endure homelessness, poverty, and mental health issues even till this day.
The Coping domain examines the extent to which individuals cope during stressful situations. Ms. M’s results indicated that she has a high tolerance for stressful situations. However, she is experiencing more stress than she can adequately tolerate, which caused her to experience some distress. Specifically, her need stated are not being adequately met and she is preoccupied on her perceived negative features. Her negative self-inspecting behaviors, then, have caused her to feel discomfort that manifests as shame and/or guilt.
Gordon, K., & Emerson, J. (2010). Governing through a disaster: Lessons from the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Retrieved from http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2010/08/07/206563/governing-through-a-disaster/
While it may seem like human survival after a traumatic event may be anarchy, yet after chaos there can be order, humans come together in light of horrible events and even in the worst disaster culture will survive. Therefore, humanity is not in as much trouble as it can be assumed in case of disaster.
stressful major life change event on children, which may overwhelm children's coping capacity, and thus compromising favorable adjustments (Garmezy, Masten, & Tellegen, 1984; Gersten, Langner,
The term ‘stress’ was generally thought to have been a concept created by Robert Hooke in the 17th century. He worked on the design of physical structures, such as bridges; his concept of stress came from how much pressure a structure could withstand. However, Lazarus (1993) pointed out that the term ‘stress’ has been used as far back as the 14th century, when it meant hardship or adversity. Back then it referred to the external stressor, such as the death of a spouse or financial worry; in the 20th century, there are many different schools of thought on this area. Hans Selye (1956), brought together the work of Cannon and Bernard and devised a comprehensive system of physiological stress; which he termed the ‘General Adaptation Syndrome’, and is a 3-stage process. He theorised that a certain level of stress called ‘eustress’ (Cox, 1978) could actually be beneficial to our overall performance. Later In 1976, Cox & Mackay devised another model called the ‘Transactional model’. This model takes into account the individual differences in the perception of the amount of stress experienced by the person. The main difference between these two models is that Selye’s model only accounts for the physiological side of stress, whereas Cox’s model takes into account both the physiological and psychological aspects of stress. Therefore, both models will have slight similarities and differences in their explanation for how stress occurs in individuals, which is the main focus of this essay.
Counseling Center for Human Development. Coping with Stress in College. U of South Florida. 3 Dec. 2000. http://usfweb.usf.edu/counsel/self-hlp/stress.htm
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The behavioral response to stress involves coping. “Coping refers to active efforts to master, reduce, or tolerate the demands created by stress” (Weiten & ...
ROY, S. C. (2013). Synthesis of a Middle Range Theory of Coping. Generating Middle Range