THE INFLUENCE OF THE GENESIS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAUMA ON THE MANIFESTATIONS OF POSTTRAUMATIC GROWTH: A THEORETICAL REVIEW

The study of the prerequisites and consequences of psychological traumatization is an urgent area of research both in domestic and foreign Clinical Psychology. The types of psychotraumatic influences and their influence on the individual, his/her personal and social functioning are studied in detail. For a long time, the research attention has been mainly focused on the negative consequences of traumatic stress. However, the victims themselves also note positive changes after coping with psychological trauma – posttraumatic growth. Posttraumatic growth should be considered as a subjective process of personality changes while the coping process. The article is devoted to the analysis of the characteristic manifestations of posttraumatic growth depending on the genesis of psychological trauma. The logic of the presentation is determined by F. Ruppert's typology of psychological traumas: (1) existential psychological trauma; (2) psychological trauma of loss; (3) psychological trauma of the relationship; (4) psychological trauma of systemic relationships. The manifestations of posttraumatic growth encompass the cognitive, emotional and behavioral components of the self-concept. Among the factors contributing to posttraumatic growth, openness to experience, self-reflection, autosympathy, full-fledged spiritual/existential life are indicated. Theoretical review showed that the characteristics of posttraumatic growth and the moment of their manifestation really differ depending on the type of psychotraumatic effect.

A Systematic Review of Caregiver Coping Strategies in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Dementia

Caregivers of patients diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) often experience distressing symptoms related to their caregiving role. This review evaluates the existing literature on coping and their relationship to ALS and FTD caregiver psychological wellbeing. Published articles were identified via a systematic search of four databases (Cinahl Complete, Medline, Embase and PsycINFO). Overall, problem-focused coping strategies such as active coping and planning was used most often by ALS and FTD caregivers. Positive emotion-focused coping strategies such as acceptance were also frequently used by FTD caregivers. In contrast, dysfunctional coping strategies such as self-oriented reactions including self-blame, denial and self-preoccupation appeared to be the most salient coping strategy negatively impacting on caregiver psychological wellbeing. Six different coping measures were used and their psychometric properties were typically under-reported or satisfactory at best when reported. While coping is as an important aspect of caregivers’ experience, it remains unclear how the temporal dimensions of the coping process as well as stressor specificity influences psychological adaptation, and consequently, development of targeted caregiver intervention. The need for future studies to define the coping process more clearly in order to capture the unique stressors encountered by ALS and FTD caregivers throughout the different disease stages is emphasised.

Theorizing to Improve Mental Health in Multicultural Construction Industries: An Intercultural Coping Model

Construction workers are exposed to a range of stressors that lead to mental ill-health. In a multicultural construction workplace, the interactions between workers with different cultural backgrounds may aggravate mental health issues. Existing studies on coping typically focus on a reactive approach to managing stressors in the absence of cultural-related factors. This approach is inadequate in addressing mental health issues in a culturally diverse construction workplace. This paper presents a critical review that synthesizes and analyses theories and models of stress and coping, proactive coping, occupational stress, acculturative stress, and intercultural competence to develop a conceptual model for managing mental health in a multicultural construction workforce. The proposed model relies upon a positive coping mechanism, i.e., intercultural coping, to manage stressful events during the entire coping process in a multicultural workplace, towards achieving sustained good mental health. The proposed conceptual model contributes to the development of coping theories and positive psychology approaches and provides effective coping strategies to enhance psychological well-being in a multicultural context.

Young People’s Coping Strategies When Dealing With Their Own and a Friend’s Symptoms of Poor Mental Health: A Qualitative Study

Young people struggle to seek help for their mental health, despite having different resources available. As the coping process is very complex, and elements such as trust and availability of resources have been said to influence it, this study aimed to understand how young people cope with their own or a friend’s symptoms of poor mental health. Eleven young people (13–15 years old) were interviewed. Thematic Analysis of the interviews showed that participants reported different coping strategies for dealing with their own hypothetical symptoms and those of a friend. Participants identified the social impact of experiencing symptoms of poor mental health and choice of resources as the main factors influencing their coping strategies. For their own symptoms, young people expressed concern about being judged and that they would only disclose to someone they trust. Participants would not disclose a friend’s symptoms because they did not want to break their trust. Finally, choice of resources was mainly influenced by the severity of symptoms being experienced, especially when it comes to asking for professional help. This study contributes to a better understanding of the different ways in which young people cope with their own symptoms and symptoms experienced by a friend.

Risk perception and communal coping in families affected by type 2 diabetes

Despite a recent decline, rates of type 2 diabetes remain high among older adults. Preventing and delaying the onset of the condition with lifestyle changes is key to reducing disease burden in the population. Type 2 diabetes is a complex disease, likely a result from the joint effect of genetic, socio-environmental and lifestyle risk factors that are clustered in families. As such, the prevention of type 2 diabetes is a communal coping process, where individuals communicate about risk and establish routines to facilitate one another’s health habits and compliance with therapeutics. This poster investigates how such a process is affected by one’s perception of risk based on his/her knowledge about family health history (FHH). We collected family network data from families of different racial backgrounds in the greater Cincinnati area (28 white and 17 black/ African American households; 127 participants). The analysis focuses on how the density of diabetes diagnosis in one’s FHH affects communication about shared risk for type 2 diabetes and encouragement to maintain or adopt a healthy lifestyle. Results suggest a higher concentration of diabetes diagnosis in one’s FHH is associated with a higher number of risk communication ties in all families. With regards to encouragement ties, high rates of diabetes diagnosis in FHH are associated with an increased number of encouragement ties only in families of black/African heritage. The findings highlight the need and promise of using FHH to motivate co-encouragement to maintain/adopt a healthier lifestyle in families of black/African heritage.

Views of Aging During the Corona Pandemic

In the Covid-19 pandemic, media stories and government reports have emphasized the heightened risk of being “old” and placed a spotlight on the way we think and talk about older adults and aging. In this symposium we investigate how the pandemic and the public discourse about older adults has shaped views of aging in different countries. Bellingtier et al. report on German children’s views of older adults before and during the pandemic. Children placed greater distance between themselves and older adults both before and after the pandemic, suggesting early ageism in children that predates the pandemic. Levy et al. provide experimental evidence that media stereotypes about aging and Covid-19 influence the mental health of older American adults, both in positive and negative. Schwartz and Ayalon found that greater perceptions of age-based discrimination in the healthcare system by Israeli adults 50+ were significantly related to greater Covid-19 worries. Greater worry can motivate older adults to take precautions, but be detrimental if it becomes too high. In line with this finding, Tingvold et al. found in a study with older adults from Luxembourg that more Covid-19 worry predicted feeling older four months later, but only for those in worse health. Finally, Terracciano examined longitudinal change in subjective age and found that American adults reported feeling younger after the emergence of Covid-19 than before, suggesting that perceptions of aging partly reflect a coping process to counter the negativity in the media.

Subjective Age Changes During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Aging is associated with an increased risk of COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. In this study, we tested whether the pandemic influenced how old individuals felt by examining longitudinal within-person changes in subjective age. We tested two alternative hypotheses: (a) people felt increasingly older in response to the stress generated by COVID-19; (b) people felt increasingly younger due to psychological distancing from older age. We tested these hypotheses in a large US sample of adults assessed once before and twice during the COVID-19 pandemic. Multilevel analyses indicated that people reported feeling younger with the emergence of COVID-19. We further tested demographic, health, and psychosocial predictors of changes in subjective age. Overall, the findings supported the hypothesis that subjective age partly reflects a coping process of psychological distancing from older age, a process that parallels physical and social distancing.

Whine and dust: Coping during the pandemic using companioning autoethnographic art-based research

As collaborators from different nationalities, genders, cultural backgrounds, occupations and age cohorts, in this article we present an account of our art-based research during the COVID-19 pandemic. The project employed art practice as a way to deal with the noxious effects of isolation on our mental health and well-being during the many prolonged lockdowns in Melbourne, Australia. With reference to Warren Lett’s concept of companioning, in our ongoing companioning dialogue through poetry and paintings, together with a final song, we explore our psychological struggles. This contribution can be read in several ways: as an example of our research into art practice, as an artistic companioning dialogue between two writers and friends trying to make sense of and survive isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic and finally, as an offer, an invitation to explore art as a cathartic and coping process in a companioning process, which we have termed companioning autoethnography.

LOCKDOWN: PREVALENCE OF MENTAL ILLNESS DURING COVID-19 IN DHAKA, BANGLADESH

Mental and physical health has been smashed up due to SARS-2-CoV-19 across the world for about the last couple of years, which leads to producing mental stress and strain. Even though patients and healthcare staffs provide psychiatric treatment, the psychological health of the overall population often demands concern which causes psychosocial stressors, impacting both the spread of the disease and the incidence of emotional distress and psychological disorder. The study aimed to identify the psychological condition and demand as wee as the coping process of the population of the capital city-Dhaka of Bangladesh. For collecting data with these categories, the online portals, like facebook vote, Google met, LinkedIn, were used for both male and female gender. Among the participants, 35% people were depressed, in grief 4% people, 25% people were suffering from Anxiety,13% people were facing Insomnia problems and 7% people were facing Trauma. Our survey also revealed that 21%sample acknowledged to open up lockdown, on the other hand, 31% of people were consistently strongly agreed on the government decision. 34.8% of people spent their time during lockdown using Facebook, 26% on online classes, work from home were 14%, and the other 26% people were utilizing their lockdown time by watching YouTube and other social sites. This study puts together a towering contribution to developing an assessment of mental health profile during SARS-2-CoV-19 and lockdown in Dhaka.