Managing Emotions (continued)
Class 16
Disclosure and Immunocompetence (continued)
Results: Which group produced more antibodies to mitogen?
Thoughts and Feelings
Control groupX
Role of Insight: 80% of T&F writers report insight-related benefits (perspective shift, new ideas about self, etc.)
Quality of Writing: Writing that improved health was:
1. More emotional2. Images and analogies 3. Clear organization: Beginning, middle, end.
Other Disclosure Studies Show:Disclosure higher T-Cell count
improved antibody response to Epstein-Barr
improved antibody response to Hepatitis B
Improved management of chronic illness:
Diabetes
Asthma
Other chronic illness
Effect replicated in scores of studies, by many different researchers
Why Does Writing Promote Coping?Harber & Pennebaker, 1991
Thought Intrusions classic symptom of trauma
Ironic effect of suppression
Emotions and recurring thoughts
Schemas and EmotionMighty tree that sheds acorns?
Soft drink, rival of Pepsi?
Very brief story with funny ending?
Gray/black fumes that arise from a fire?
The white part of an egg?
Oak
Coke
Joke
Smoke
Albumin
Fundamental Assumptions
The world is just
The world is orderly, not chaotic or random
One’s self is good and competent
Traumas are events that violate fundamental assumptions (aka "basic beliefs")
Discrepancy Theories of Emotion and TraumaEmotions arise from schema violationsEmotions alert us when schemas (beliefs) and experience (facts) conflictEmotions stay active until schemas and experience difference is resolvedTraumas arise when fundamental beliefs are violated by experience
Changing fundamental beliefs very hard, people resist doing so
Victim blaming, traumatic amnesia, emotional dissociation
Listeners don't want to hear stories that offend their own basic beliefs.Trauma victims in compound double bind: internal and external
resistance to revealing trauma.
World is well-orderedWorld is justSelf is good, competent, worthy
Writing and Traumatic Recovery
Writing about negative events may boost morale. How so?
Active coping
Purposeful activity Improved self-image Psychologically and socially safe
Bonanza Model of Writing and Traumatic Recovery
Tulving, Paivio dual code systems of memory
a. Episodic – imagistic, holistic, emotional, self-relevant, chronologically organized—"analog"
b. Semantic – fact-based, non-emotional, category based,elemental rather than holistic – "digital"
Work of emotional assimilation is converting episodic into semantic.
Writing (and verbal disclosure) promote this psychological digestion.a. Dissolves phenomenal whole into semantic bits.b. Associates traumatic experience with existing memory
and beliefs.c. Consider the "unpacking" of semantic network
Intra-Psychic Benefits of Writing
Does Writing Actually Heal Traumatic Memory?
Bernard Rimé: No, it doesn't.
Ss write/don't write about trauma.
X days later return, Ss asked to think about trauma
Ss rate how upsetting to recall trauma.
No differences between expt. groups.
This being so, what good is writing?
Bernard Rimé
Hey Bernie, Not So Quick!
Harber & Pennebaker:
No claims about the potency of intentionally-recovered memories. Instead, focus on their ability to spontaneously intrude.
Real question: Does writing reduce thought intrusions?
Yes -- Klein & Boals, 2001. Expressive writing reduces intrusions.
Class 17: Collective Coping
Loma Prieta Earthquake of 1989
The Loma Prieta Earthquake
Characteristics of Quake
7.1 on Richter scale
Duration: 15 seconds
Most intense seismic event since 1906 quake, which destroyed SF
Effects of Quake
Deaths = 60 +
Injured = 3700
Displaced = 12,000
Damage = $6 billion
Disclosure and CopingSchacter Anxiety and Affiliation Studies
a. Clarify causes of distress
b. Validates own emotions
Sympathetic Listening as Key to Social Support
a. Making sense of trauma
b. Perspective, insight
Failure to Disclose is a Health Risk
a. Suppression physically effortful
b. Prolonged suppression chronic stress
c. Disclosure stops suppression, reduces illness
Health Benefits of DisclosureImmediate Lowered heart rate
Lowered skin conductance
Reduced muscle tension
Long term health Fewer MD visits
Fewer symptoms
Stronger immune system
Long term coping Reduced depression, stress
higher grades, less absenteeism
Quicker re-employment after loss
Listening Isn’t EasyContagion of Distress
Holocaust survivors study
Vicarious traumatization among therapists
Avoidance of the supporter role
Pseudo-sympathetic responses
Outright rejection
Social Dilemma of Collective Coping
People simultaneously placed in two roles:
1. Seek out others for support
2. Sought out as a support source for others
AND
1. Telling your problem advances coping
2. Hearing others disclose is a stressor
Survey of Disaster Research from 1959 to 1989: A Review of 73 Published Studies.
Gathered comparison group data: 27%
Gathered data two times after event 30%
Gathered data 3 + times after event 14%
Gathered data no later than weeks after event 25%
Meet all the above criteria 0
Quake Study Survey Locations
Timeline of Quake Study
Q WEEK WEEK WEEK WEEK WEEK WEEK WEEK WEEK --- WEEK --- WEEK --- WEEK
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 16 28 50
Quake Study Method
Sample size: 789 residents (SF, Sac, S. Cal, Dallas)
Data gathering method:
Phone survey
Random digit dialing
Calls made 6:30 – 9:30, weeknights only
Survey lasts 10 minutes
Survey Content
Communication: Thinking, talking, listening
Emotional reactions
Physical symptoms
Coping tactics: praying, joking, drinking
Rates of Talking and Thinking Following the Loma Prieta Earthquake: Bay Area Only
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Start Week1
Week2
Week3
Week6
Week8
Week16
Thought
Talked
“Thank you for not sharing your earthquake experience with me”
T-shirts in Palo Alto during weeks 3-6 after the quake
Percent Reporting an Earthquake-Related Dream, SF vs. Other Locations
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Per
cent
San Francisco
ComparisonCities
Percent Reporting an Argument with Family or Co-Workers During the Prior Week
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Pe
rce
nt
San Francisco
ComparisonCities
Percentage Change in Aggravated Assaults From Year Before Quake to Year After Quake
-6
-4
-2
0
2
4
6
8
Pe
rce
nt
Rates of Quake Related Joking
-0.6-0.4-0.2
00.20.40.60.8
11.21.41.6
Ra
ting
s in
Z u
nits
San Francisco
ComparisonCities
A Need to Be Shaken and Stirred?
“But deep in my heart I know not that a major disaster would be deliverance from my drab, wretched life – salvation from the old week-by-week, a chance for two-bit heroics blown up on the front page … . I’ve talked to others, and I’m not alone. Maybe we crave a chance to be stouthearted for once and have a real situation to cope with.”
Michael Hood, NPR Reporter
Commenting on minor quake in Seattle, WA
05/09/96
The Three Stage Model of Collective Coping
The Three Stage Model of Collective Coping
Persian Gulf War I
500000 US soldiers in harms way
Experts predict 1000s of US casualties
Fears of nuclear weapons, poison gas
Fears of terrorism at home
Yellow ribbons, prayer sessions
Media barrage of war-relate stories
Persian Gulf War Study
Survey nearly identical to that used in Quake Study
Participants contacted randomly
All participants were Dallas, TX residents
No “comparison sample” possible
Rates and Talking and Thinking Following the Persian Gulf War
02468
101214161820
Ra
ting
s in
Z u
nits
Thought
Talked
Rates of Event-Related Dreaming, Following the Quake and Following the War
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Ra
ting
s in
Z u
nits
Quake (SF)
War (Dallas)
Rate of Increased Aggravated Assaults, Dallas, 1991 (War) vs. 1990 (Pre-War)
-40
-200
2040
6080
100
Pe
rce
nt
of
Incre
ase
d A
ssa
ults
Implications of Collective Coping Research
1. Coping appears to occur in a three-stage manner
1. Emergency
2. Inhibition
3. Recovery
2. Public safety should be on especial alert during inhibition stage
3. Emotions are negotiated events; we need to share the burden of disclosure and listening.
MIDTERM GRADES
Grading Formula
86-100 A83-85 B+78-83 B75-77 B-73-75 C+70-72 C67-69 C-59-65 D0-58 F
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