Children at psychiatric risk / edited by E. James Anthony and Cyrille Koupernik.
- Date:
- [1974]
Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Credit: Children at psychiatric risk / edited by E. James Anthony and Cyrille Koupernik. Source: Wellcome Collection.
84/584 page 56
![56 Theory for a New Field Status Changes The term status changes is used to refer to alterations in one or more aspects of C, the environmental context. But since the A, B, and С components are interdependent, changes in С can be expected to effect changes in the characteristics of the coexisting A and В components—which could, in turn, alter the psychological and physiological functioning of the behavioral system. Some of the psychological effects following changes in the С component have already been noted, such as the changes associated with the experimental isolation studies. Another example is the likelihood of an infant's depressive reaction following the prolonged absence of his mother [19]. Physical illness in an adult also may result from the loss of a loved one [20] as well as from the run-of-mill life changes which add to the general wear and tear of the system [21, 22]. Although any change in the С component presumably taxes the behavioral system to some extent, effects of changes in С appear to be most profound when the loss of cathected objects is involved, that is, the loss of those aspects of the environmental context which matter most to the individual (Haggard [5], pp. 458-462). On a broad cultural scale, disruption of the familiar world and habitual ways of relating to it may have a disorganizing effect on behavior and, in turn, increase the likelihood of stress and trauma. The disruptions that accompany war, with their effects on mores and behavior, are a case in point. In this connection, it may be that the asocial and demoralized behavior that characterizes the mountain people [23] stems as much from their loss of homeland, and hence their traditional way of life, as from the scarcity of food in the arid land they now occupy.^^ One aspect of a change in the С component which may influence the adaptation of the individual (in the sense-of making him more vulnerable to stress and trauma) involves changes in the historical- cultural-psychological atmosphere in which he lives. At one time— say, in the Middle Ages—Western man presumably was secure in his knowledge of what he could depend upon, both in this world and in the next. But much of this certainty has been lost following 1 It is not difficult to note similarities between the disintegration of the culture of the mountain people and corresponding effects when Native Americans were confined to reservations and African Negroes were uprooted and forced to work the plantations in America.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b18021876_0085.JP2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
