Coping with the coping concept: A brief comment (original) (raw)
Coping' as a concept has achieved wide modem usage both in common parlance and also in the psychological literature. To those of us in clinical practice, there is something very attractive about using the idea of 'coping' in formulation and in treatment. It provides a psychological construct that includes behavioral and cognitive events, permits a prescription for learning by the patient, and helps to distinguish successful from unsuccessful patients. For example, much of the 'coping' literature notes that subjects and patients have poor tolerance to pain if they are 'catastrophizers' (i.e., individuals who seem to exaggerate the significance of a 'stressor' for themselves). Yet, the concept of 'coping' still needs some fundamental clarification. Close to 3 decades of research has led to little unanimity regarding what constitutes 'coping,' how to identify or measure it. The form of the measures and research methodologies have not changed greatly since 'coping' research began, and major advances have been few, raising the possibility that the concept may have reached its heuristic limit. We appeal to the concept of 'coping' in our clinical experience in which we encounter individuals who transform calamities into opportunities for growth, while we encounter others who transform everyday 'hassles' into overwhelming adversities. However, it is impossible to consistently demonstrate differences in 'coping strategies' that would characterize both
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