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.
86/584 page 58
![58 Theory for a New Field threatening environmental situation.The other class of phenomena has to do with stress and trauma that continue over a substantial period of time, and involves a threat to the individual's psychological and physical well-being. The alleviation of this type of stress or trauma calls for the change of established behavior patterns as well as change of methods for dealing with particular events. One way to minimize short-term stress is to prepare the individual ahead of time so that he will not be caught off-guard by abrupt and unexpected events, and by his reactions to them.^ As an example of the benefits of such preparation, Glasserman [28] found that when children about to have eye surgery were fully informed of the nature of the operation and what to expect when their eyes were bandaged, and could talk with other children who had recently undergone and recovered from the operation, they experienced substantially less stress—and trauma—than children who underwent the operation without this preparation. Sometimes events produce disquiet or even stress not because they are in any way threatening to the individual but because they fail to support previously established habits, expectancies, or other modes of adaptation. It is probably for this reason that McLuhan [29] suggested that an internationally televised Roman Catholic mass might be able to stabilize the 'psychic lives' of (Church) members disturbed by the changes of Vatican П (p. 49). As discussed earlier, the reinstatement of a cathected aspect of the С component can be expected to support the В schemata as they articulate with aspects of the A component. It is not always possible, however, to effect changes in the В and С components, as described in the preceding examples, to minimize stress and the risk of trauma. But it is frequently possible to effect 19 For example, in connection with a survey of the psychological causes and results of stress, it was observed that A person is able to act realistically and effectively in such a situation only if he knows the nature and seriousness of the threat, knows what to do, and is able to do it (Haggard [27], p. 448). 20 This procedure, by developing the needed ABC articulations (symbolically if not actually), tends to preclude excessive stress or trauma when the real stress-producing situation occurs. In some situations, such as preparation for battle, the training may involve a gradual approximation of the risks of battle, because Realistic training under realistic conditions of stress is a necessary procedure if many individuals are not to become psychiatric casualties when confronted by actual danger. In fact, one observer believes that 'shell shock' is nothing but insufficient training (Haggard [27], p. 447).](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b18021876_0087.JP2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
