Author Archives: caitlinnnoel

First Impression- Mental Health Treatment

--Original published at Caitlin's corner

I chose option 1 for my last first impression post.

Our psychology textbook lists the four major types of psychotherapy; psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, and humanistic. I will be ranking these according to how helpful I think they would be to me, one being the best and four being the least helpful and why/why not.

  1. Cognitive psychotherapy is based on the cognitive model, which states that thoughts, feelings and behavior are all connected, and that individuals can move toward overcoming difficulties and meeting their goals by identifying and changing unhelpful or inaccurate thinking, problematic behavior, and distressing emotional responses. This involves the individual working collaboratively with the therapist to develop skills for testing and modifying beliefs, identifying distorted thinking, relating to others in different ways, and changing behaviors. A tailored cognitive case conceptualization is developed by the cognitive therapist as a roadmap to understand the individual’s internal reality, select appropriate interventions and identify areas of distress.

I think this form of therapy would be best for me since I personally believe that if you don’t change anything or identify what’s causing you distress and make appropriate changes to avoid it, you can’t expect to feel or do anything differently. You have to identify problems and work on ways to work past them that are specific to you. Just talk can be productive and help with introspection, but I feel like labeling things as being problematic or the cause of your problems, you can more easily make changes to avoid those feelings or stop them completely.

2. Psychodynamic psychotherapy is a form of depth psychology, the primary focus of which is to reveal the unconscious content of a client’s psyche in an effort to alleviate psychic tension.

In this way, it is similar to psychoanalysis. It also relies on the interpersonal relationship between client and therapist more than other forms of in-depth psychology. In terms of approach, this form of therapy uses psychoanalysis adapted to a less intensive style of working, usually at a frequency of once or twice per week. This seems like it would be a good fit for me and I actually do currently go to talk therapy. Since I rely highly on friends and family to be able to vent to. Just getting it out there and talking about it really helps me put things into perspective and work it out on my own, obviously with a game plan my counselor and I make for myself.

3. Humanistic psychotherapy is primarily the type of therapy that encourages a self-awareness and mindfulness which then helps the client change their state of mind and behavior from one set of reactions to a healthier one with more productive self-awareness and thoughtful actions. Essentially, this approach allows the merging of mindfulness and behavioral therapy, with positive social support.

I really like the sound of this therapy, but honestly with my anxiety and depression, it can be so hard to change my state of mind. I feel so stuck sometimes or like it’s just not going to get better so this might not totally work in the long-run for me. It could potentially help my self-esteem and self-efficacy, but I feel like I need something that focuses on my environment and my interactions with it, more than my views and thoughts of myself. Although, I do see benefits to having a good view of myself. Self love is very important so you can love other’s, but it wouldn’t totally help me to fix my problems, I think.

4. Behavioral psychotherapy has a rich tradition in research and practice. From a purely behavioral perspective, behavior therapy has shown considerable success with clients from a variety of problems. Traditional behavior therapy draws from respondent conditioning and operant conditioning to solve client problems.

Honestly, depending on the problem this could work wonders for people who have behavior or personality issues, but for me and my anxiety/depression I don’t know if it would be a good fit. It could me get past my anxiety by putting me in situations that trigger it, but again, that could ultimately make it worse and have the opposite effect of trying to get comfortable in the situation, whatever it may be

 


First Impression- Mental Illness

--Original published at Caitlin's corner

I decided to do the first option for this first impression post since I have a fairly detailed understanding of Schizophrenia from Intro to Neuroscience, however, I don’t know what the symptoms are actually like to experience. I’ve seen Donnie Darko also and that is one of my favorite movies ever. I knew before the video that there are positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia, and that positive symptoms are hallucinations (tactile, vision, auditory, and smell) but I don’t really know what it’s like to experience that. It’s pretty hard to understand the illness if you don’t what it’s like to actually have it. This video seemed like a good opportunity to do that.

The video was really eye opening for me. It’s insane to think some people really experience things like that or hear voices telling them terrible things or that people are after them. It’s hard to think what it would be like to experience these symptoms and be able to tell what’s real and what’s not real. It would be really scary to be with someone while they’re having a delusion or hallucination because they aren’t aware that it’s not real. It is so real to them and we don’t usually see it as such in film and the media. Usually people think they can control it, like start and stop whenever they way or it’s for attention and not really happening. A lot of people don’t have a detailed idea of what it is since it’s such an individualized illness. The video also said that there is no typical or normal case of schizophrenia.

After watching this video, I really want to know how doctors diagnose this mental illness, since it can be so different between everyone and we can’t experience what they are seeing or hearing. Also, I really want to know why when they hear voices it’s about people after them or things like that, it seems so strange that their minds can make this up and they believe it and why is it that. Them hearing voices saying the government is after them and that God is speaking to them is what I’ve heard from class and media, anyways.


Media Production Project

--Original published at Caitlin's corner

Summary:

In a study done by researchers and published in the journal, Mindfulness, they found that doing just 25 minutes of Hatha yoga can increase your executive functioning skills and energy levels/mood. The 31 participants did 25 minutes of Hatha yoga, mindfulness based meditation, and quiet reading as the controlled variable. After each session, the participants were asked to complete tasks related to executive functioning and thinking and self-reported their moods, energy levels, and feelings.

The participants found that all of the executive functioning factors increased or got better after the yoga and meditation sessions at the post ten minute mark, but not at the post five minute mark. This means that the cognitive functioning results weren’t readily accessible right after, but it took a few minutes for the results to show themselves. Their energy levels and mood were noticeable immediately afterwards, but not after the reading. Although, it should be noted that energy levels were slightly higher than after the meditation, and both meditation and yoga increased energy levels when compared to quiet reading.

These results can be linked to what we already know about exercise’s effects on the brain. Exercise releases endorphins and “feel good” chemicals into the body that can reduce your stress levels, increase blood flow to the brain, and reduce focus on ruminative thoughts. Keeping up with a healthy lifestyle can also increase the benefits to just working out 25 minutes a day.

Links to articles:

For Caitlin (1)

Reflection:

This project was way harder than I originally thought overall. When reading the research study, it was really hard to stay focused and find the information I really needed to know. There was so much information I didn’t understand and number’s that I didn’t understand how they got so that was frustrating for me. It was a little hard to write the summary and decide where to start. You don’t just want to throw information at them but at the same time, you still have to be accurate and not plagiarize. It was a little hard for me to put things into my own words sometimes because it was either very simple and hard to reword or very complex and I didn’t know how to still be accurate, but not just copy and paste what they said. I decided to not include the details about how they got their information (i.e. what tests they used) because it probably wouldn’t have changed anyones mind or ideas about the topic. I did add some information when compared to my first article because my first one was rather short without a lot of information referencing the research. I added some more information about the study itself rather than the results of the study. The author of the first link really focused on the health benefits rather than how they got the results and what they really meant. It didn’t seem like they really read the article and took all of the info in. I also decided to leave out how they got their participants and the fact that it was all women. It could change the data if we added men, but it most likely wouldn’t. I didn’t add the implications of the study at all, probably for the same purpose as the author. Overall, I like my article more, the other doctor’s article was very fluffy and not to the point for being how short it is.


First Impression – Social Psychology

--Original published at Caitlin's corner

This is a very interesting experiment to me because most people would definitely think the people receiving $20 would do a better job, but in actuality, the people who received only $1, did a much better job of talking to the next person and actually started to believe it wasn’t boring,, In reality, it was very tedious and boring work. There have definitely been times where I’ve experienced this. Sometimes when my neighbors whom I babysitter for regularly ask me to do them a favor or something small for no compensation I end up doing a much better job of completing the task than if they said they’d pay me. I find that when I know I’m getting paid, I will start off really well and strong, but eventually I will get sloppy or lazy and just not care as much because I know I’m going to get paid no matter what. But if I’m not being compensated I see if more of an act of kindness I guess, so I really want to impress them and do them a favor. For me, money can make me really greedy and I know it, so I’d much rather do someone a favor and just be happy because of that. I’m not really sure why I’m like this, but my life is very volunteer and community service oriented since I’m involved in girl scouts, rainbow girls and other masonic groups, relay for life, etc. I really do try to focus my efforts on doing things out of the kindness of my heart rather than for compensation. Although, I will say that can get tricky because eventually, people can start to use you for your kindness and willingness to help. That has also happened to me in the past, but I ended up saying something and they knew it, so they fixed it. Sometimes people just want to see how far they can get I guess and how many buttons they can press before they have to face reality or until you stand up for yourself. I also see this phenomenon when I go back home and my parents tell me to do chores, so I hate doing them, but if they let me do it on my own time and because I want to clean and make the house look nice, then I’m more than happy to do it. Maybe that’s just me, or maybe it isn’t, but either way this is a very interesting topic.


My Johari Window

--Original published at Caitlin's corner

When taking the Johari Window personality test, I was definitely intrigued by my results. When choosing the traits I would describe myself with, I really wanted to pick more than six. If I could’ve I would have picked somewhere around 10-12. I only say this because almost all of the things in my blind-spot category, I basically knew and I would’ve picked if I had more than six words. I agreed with all of them and didn’t see anything out of place honestly. I think it was more of a good indicator of who I am than just my personality. I think it shows a lot about us in not so obvious ways. For example, I didn’t have anything in my facade box. I always try to be very straight forward and honest and I don’t think I have a “front” anyways, so that seemed fitting. A lot of people I know have said I’m an open book, and I agree. Another thing that’s telling of me is that people answered introverted and extroverted. When I’ve taken personality tests in the past I’ve gotten INFJ or ENTP various times depending on the test, so truly I do identify with being an ambivert more than anything else. I was also intrigued by how people who know me in all sorts of different capacities answered differently. Everyone in my immediate family said I was independent or mature, all of my friends said complex and organized, and 70% of people said I was caring. I’ve always known I was a caring and understanding individual and it definitely shows in my passions and in my work. After recently attending an info session on careers in mental health, I’d love to explore careers in adoption and child protective services, and I choose those because they are hard to do, but take extreme amounts of love, understanding, and compassion for everyone. I truly just want to impact a child’s life in a positive way and make human connections along the way. Overall, this test it definitely worth your time and can give you good insight to yourself.

My test: http://kevan.org/johari?view=caitlin+gresham

 


To Stress or not to Stress?

--Original published at Caitlin's corner

We all know we can easily get stressed out when it comes to school, work, or our love lives, and so forth, or a combination of everything altogether. However, some deal with this stress far better than others, and it definitely with the help of specific techniques that most can de-stress. This blog post with examine three different websites that provide stress management tips. These three websites will all have a different audience in mind, so there’s something for everyone!

  1. https://stressfreekids.com/13654/reducing-stress-in-kids/

This website is specifically aimed at children who experience stress for various reasons whether it be school, friends, or home life. This website gives advice like, “Be aware that change, be it positive or negative, creates stress for most kids. Make time to relax and schedule downtime for your children. Do not over-schedule. Show your child how to maintain a positive outlook, stop the chatter and lists in their heads, and take their mind off of their worries.”  It goes on to provide techniques to do so. They say to make visualizations and help them tap into their own happy places or to use their imaginations to create stories. They offer A Boy and a Turtle as a story that introduces visualizing. This is one technique we learned about in class to calm down for a few minutes and to center ourselves. It only takes a few minutes to do and is free, and actually works! They also suggest the use of practicing controlled breathing. Taking slow deep breaths can help lower a child’s anxiety and anger. All children can benefit from this important powerful stress and anger management technique. Children with special needs; Autism, Aspergers, ADHD, SPD, PTSD can learn to bring their energy level down a notch and feel in charge of themselves. Children can use breathing when they feel over-stimulated or on a verge of a temper tantrum. Remind your child to use their breathing tool. Breathe in 2,3,4 and out 2,3,4. In 2,3,4 and out 2,3,4. For added fun encourage your child to show one of their dolls or stuffed animals this technique. They suggest Sea Otter Cove as a story that introduces breathing techniques. This is a very useful technique for anyone who feels they are worked up or angry or getting to that point. It effectively calms our nervous system and stops the release of adrenalin and norepinepherin.

2. https://www.umh.org/assisted-independent-living-blog/bid/306253/6-stress-management-tips-for-seniors

This website and tips are specifically for seniors and the elderly who live in a senior care facility. Even though retirement is supposed to be relaxing and stress-free, it can be for many people. Along with aging comes new concerns, such as managing your health, how to fund retirement, and a general sense of “loss.” These new challenges can be worrisome and keep you up at night. This website offers tips on how to live a healthy life. They suggest meditation and being thankful first. They say to start with choosing a comfortable area and try practicing some deep breathing. Eliminate distractions around you and take several deep breaths until you find yourself becoming calm; it’s easier to do when you think about things in your life you are most thankful for. Allow yourself to relax and find a quiet inner place of peace, where you can feel content and at rest. We know from class that meditation and mindfulness have serious calming effects. We know from the previous website that controlled breathing works. Controlled breathing and meditation usually go hand in hand, so it’s no wonder why this works. They also suggest playing with a pet. Even though it doesn’t deal with source of the stress directly, it can help take you mind off of the situation and to feel better. Therapy or service pets are a great tool for people with various health concerns; they can create a warmer and happier environment, warn them about an upcoming episode, and bring them company. Overall, the techniques listed here are great for seniors and everyone actually although most of them don’t deal with the stressor, just the stress itself.

3. https://www.everydayhealth.com/college-health/college-life-10-ways-to-reduce-stress.aspx

It’s no secret that college students face some of the highest stress levels among populations. There are financial, social, existential, and academic worries and concerns at all times and it’s easy to let everything overcome you, but this website provides useful tips for students. They suggest getting the recommended 7.5 or 9 hours of sleep because it is also a fact that many teens and young adults do not get the correct amount of sleep. Too little or too much sleep can be detrimental to your health and mental stability as we learned in class. Many executive functions can be compromised if we’re continually lacking sleep. Our brain needs REM and the four sleep cycles in order to repair our brain and help keep us healthy so if we’re pulling all nighters or depriving our brains of sleep, it’s much easier to get stressed out. Another tip they give is to exercise frequently. Exercising releases endorphins into our body and helps keep our mood in check and also keep our bodies healthy. If you’re overweight then it’s much easier to fall into cycles of depression and anxiety. Exercising 20-30 minutes a day can reduce anxiety levels almost immediately. Although they say to do something you love, and not to force yourself to run or do something you hate, that can give you the opposite effects.

 

Overall, everything mentioned in these articles are good tips for reducing stress in our lives. Nearly every tip they gave was something we had covered in part or in full during our classes so they all seem to be very successful. Of course though your success at de-stressing depends on you and everyone is different. Not every tip will work for everyone, but regardless, they all have real effects in the brain.


First Impression- Personality

--Original published at Caitlin's corner

I’ve taken many of these tests before, and I’m very interested in how my answers change over the years as well. For the Humanetrics Jung Typology test, I got INFJ. This is something that has stayed pretty consistent all throughout my life. It stands for Introvert (I), Intuitive (N), Feeling (F), and Judging (J). All of this means that I am influenced most by my feelings, intuition, and experiences rather than other’s and facts. “INFJs are deeply concerned about their relations with individuals as well as the state of humanity at large,” is a sentence I highly agree with. I find myself always worrying about the future or planning way too far in advance. I also agree with this, “[Introverts] are sometimes mistaken for extroverts because they appear so outgoing and are so genuinely interested in people — a product of the Feeling function they most readily show to the world.” I often take this test and flip-flop between the extrovert and introvert, however I truly feel as I am an ambivert, a mix of the two. That is one big criticism I have, they should add an ambivert option. “INFJs are true introverts, who can only be emotionally intimate and fulfilled with a chosen few from among their long-term friends, family, or obvious “soul mates.” is especially true for me as well. I have always had friend group problems because they were too big for me to really connect. Now, I can keep my circle very small and I am really happy with my quality or friends, not the quantity. On the Jungian Personality type test, I got ISFJ. That is a little different for me, but everything is mostly the same. The difference is the S, sensing. This one seems accurate for me as well. It is very service and work orientated while being very loyal. I agree that I am usually trying to help someone or do community service. The jobs for these types are very similar to what I’m studying, what I used to study, and what I currently do. I love doing secretarial type work and I’m an office assistant for the Tempest Theatre Box Office and at Facilities Management, so it makes sense why I’m good at it. I was also an education major and a psychology major now, so those also align with the answers. The one critique I have for this test is the lack of other options. It was either extremes or both things I do depending on the situation. For me, many things are on a case by case basis or my answers can change depending on the situation, so it was sometimes hard for me to pick an answer and that can greatly affect your outcome. For the psychometrics test I scored Extroversion 41, Emotional Stability 26, agreeableness 80, conscientiousness 76, and intellect/imagination 34. I ended up answering in the middle for many of these questions, but the ones I scored high in, I definitely agree with. I like having many options for answers like in this test, but the neutral button often gets misused in data. There can be many reasons someone chose that, and it’s impossible to tell why. Like I said before, for me, many things are on a case-by-case basis for me and it depends on how I’m feeling in the moment in that certain situation to know how I’ll feel or think. The color test was definitely the most interesting and objective in my eyes. Although, the answers weren’t very far off from the truth, but they weren’t as accurate as the others. Some of it was just horoscope bullshit like usual, but the part that got me spot on was the existing situations and the restrained characteristics. Those were scary accurate for having me just pick colors that made me feel good when I first saw them. Overall, I’d say the personality tests are fairly accurate at depicting us, with a few exceptions. I would trust the validity of the first two over the last two for sure, simply because they have proven to be accurate, however I wish those ones were more than just picking between two sides basically. I think one way to make them more accurate is to add more options for answers. I think the types cover a broad demographic but there are missing populations like ambiverts, such as myself.


First Impression: Emotion

--Original published at Caitlin's corner

For this first impression post, I chose the second option. I had to take a multiple choice 20 question facial expression quiz. I scored 17/20 on the quiz, it was a little harder than I thought it would be. At first, I didn’t realize how similar some emotions can be and how to differentiate them. There are very subtle facial and physical cues that can totally change the meaning or emotion. I never realized how heavily we rely on social cues in conversation also. I don’t know how accurate this test is, since, in my opinion, some of these emotions can be almost interchangeable or easily confused. I thought some of the terms were synonyms, but the meaning can totally change depending on the term apparently. Also, this quiz appeared in an online magazine website for healthy living and such based on science. I know there is a science behind recognizing facial expressions, emotions, and social cues, so this seems fairly accurate. I thought I would be better at this, but 17/20 isn’t too bad either for going into it without any practice or priming. For me, the hardest emotions to differentiate were the embarrassment and shame ones, and the contempt/anger ones. The differences didn’t seem that big to me or I didn’t realize the small details like wrinkles. I can use this information to help me in social interactions all the time. If I’m with a new group of people, I can tell what people are thinking or feeling, and potentially make friends. You can avoid awkward situations if you can feel out how people are feeling or what they’re thinking. You can also help someone if you see someone having a hard time expressing an emotion, they can physically, but not verbally maybe. Overall, it can help in many social situations for me.


First Impression Sleep

--Original published at Caitlin's corner

I opted for Option 2 for this first impression post. We all know how important sleep is, especially when combined with stress from our course work load, maintaining relationships, and making an income or working on our professional portfolios. Overall, I have a really hard time sleeping with noise and light, so I try to use a sleep mask and keep all music off when I go to bed. I honestly feel a huge slump around 4-7 pm every day, whether thats from lack of good nutrition, coffee, not enough sleep, or stress, it really can affect my sleep schedule for the night. If I decide to nap then, I wont be able to sleep as well and I won’t stay asleep either. However, if I can make it through the day, (all dayers are hard) then I will naturally start feeling sleepy around 9-10 pm. My roommate and I are very good about not staying up late, we generally have the same schedule every morning so it makes getting up easier. If I fall asleep on or before 11 pm, I find that I will always wake up anywhere between 4-6 am. I don’t mind waking up so early because I feel very refreshed. I usually lay in bed for a bit or go get ready immediately. I use to have problems with staying up too late or not being able to wake up on time, but this year I have been very good about getting around 7-8 hours a night. In the summer, I naturally woke up around 7-8 and would feel naturally tired between 10:30 and 11 pm and I would just keep that cycle going. In college I have kept the same cycle going as much as possible. I also try to stay off of electronics at night because the light will make my eyes more awake, so instead I usually have some reading I have to do before class in the morning/afternoon, so I will just read instead. Reading will make me sleepy very quickly. I find it also quite effective to stop drinking caffeine after 5 pm, that way I am not wired before bed. I feel pretty happy with my sleep overall, I just wish I could stay asleep longer sometimes, but my body usually knows when it’s gotten 7/8 hours of sleep and that’s all it wants. If I try to really sleep in past 8:30-9, I will feel very groggy and just want to sleep more, so I try to avoid that at all costs, but some days it is really nice.


Spotlight Post 1

--Original published at Caitlin's corner

It is a well known fact that many marriages can end in divorce nowadays, however there is some room for discussion on it’s effects on children. Some can come out of a divorce just fine with the proper help and mediation, but what is best? Some children can come out with adverse experiences and it can show some negative effects later in life. This post will look at four sources, two of each examining both sides of the argument; that some children can come out fine and some can be put through too much.

Divorce is inherently harmful to children articles:

  1. In the Article, “Parental Bickering, Screaming, and Fighting: Etiology of the Most Negative Effects of Divorce on Children from the View of the Children,” from the Journal of Divorce and Remarriage has a strong stance that divorce, especially nasty ones, lead children to having problems later on in life. They wrote, “Parental discord intensified normal reactions and perpetuated negative reactions of various intensities from the children, as well as hindered their adjustment to the crisis.” This shows that when children see parental fighting and frustration, it can lead to them having their own issues with communication and feelings in relationships future on. I think this article is very credible, as it was written from interviews with real children of divorce and written by a credible therapist with a Phd.

source: http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=7&sid=91b71b3d-82d4-4ae7-a730-58014fc8815e%40sessionmgr4008&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=3449943

2. In the article, “The Psychology of Divorce: A Lawyer’s Primer, Part 2: The Effects of Divorce on Children.” written Sandford Portnoy in The American Journal of Family Law. This is a very credible source because it comes from a lawyer’s perspective and keeps many more aspect in mind than the last article. It states, “Aside from psychological problems including high levels of depression, anxiety and low self esteem, children of divorced parents also exhibit, adolescent delinquent behavior, lower academic performance compared to children from intact families, and marital instability.” This shows that they are primed for poor coping skills and behavioral problems. Of course, with the  right therapy and the right counselor, this could not happen, but many people lack resources and knowledge about these problems and how to overcome them.

source: http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=4&sid=91b71b3d-82d4-4ae7-a730-58014fc8815e%40sessionmgr4008&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=27773717

Children can come through divorce without serious consequences articles:

  1. In an article written by three researchers and accredited counselors published in the Journal of Divorce and Remarriage they studied the effects of an adjustment to divorce program which included 60 7-9-year-old children who participated with their parents. It stated that, “Based on specific behavioral criteria, pre- and post- testing revealed that children’s adjustment significantly improved after completing Kids’ Turn (the program).” The criteria to determine that conclusion consisted of reports of less conflict between children and parents as well as children’s ability to avoid participating in conflict-laden situations within their post-divorce family system. They also saw more effects in these children, they appeared more emotionally activated at the end of the program than at the beginning. They also had more reconciliation fantasies, greater awareness of distressing feelings regarding the divorce, and more sensitivity to being misunderstood by their parents. The authors concluded their program is effective in creating a greater awareness of children’ s role in the dynamics of the post-divorce family and their coping skills. However, while most of the attitudes, beliefs, and behavior changed in a positive direction, the authors cautioned us saying, “children may need more evaluation and continued support in addressing the strong feelings the program aroused in the participants.” Meaning the program significantly helped, but if there are more problems at large, then they will need more addressing, but overall, a child can come out of a divorce without being inherently damaged.

source: http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=8&sid=91b71b3d-82d4-4ae7-a730-58014fc8815e%40sessionmgr4008&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=17037478&db=a9h

2. In the article, “Protecting Children From the Consequences of Divorce: A Longitudinal Study of the Effects of Parenting on Children’s Coping Processes” written for the magazine, Child Development they studied the effects between mothers and children post divorce using different coping methods and strategies. They said, “The three-wave prospective mediational analyses revealed that intervention-induced improvements in relationship quality led to increases in coping efficacy at 6 months and increases in coping efficacy and active coping at 6 years.” Their results are discussed in terms of pathways to adaptive coping and implications for the implementation of preventive interventions targeting coping. The researchers looked at the mother-child relationships 6 months and 6 years after the divorce and how their coping has changed or been reinforced. They found that those who had stronger bonds with their mother’s had better coping skills later on. This shows that with the right mediation and intervention, children can walk out of the divorces with good coping and relationship skills.

source: http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=5&sid=91b71b3d-82d4-4ae7-a730-58014fc8815e%40sessionmgr4008&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=57770311

My conclusion from the evidence and articles provided is, children will inherently adapt to their either hostile or supportive environments within the divorce and family structure and then act accordingly. Eventually if these situations remain hostile and they do not get intervention, then the child will take these reactions and bad coping strategies and form them into a habit and thus effect their future situations with coping and relationships. On the other hand, if the child of divorce does get proper counseling and therapy, they can see and use effective and positive coping mechanisms and strategies in their future endeavors. Overall, I think this question is very circumstantial. A lot of factors in a child’s post-divorce coping depends on the intensity of the fighting, bickering, arguing, hostility, and the nature of the divorce. If a child see’s the negativity and inappropriate behaviors coming from their parents and does not get the proper counseling for it, they could have many damaging schema/ideas on love, marriage, relationships, and divorce. Overall, it could set the child up for a not-so-great life. However, if the child and family does get the right counseling and therapy, then the child can use and see good coping mechanisms and the right way to handle our feelings. After reading these studies and cases, I think that if a divorce isn’t handled well, then it can be inherently harmful to children, but it can be handled in a positive and professional manner and help the child in the long-run.