STRESS

Stress refers to the consequence of the failure of an organism human or animal-to respond
appropriately to emotional or physical threats, whether actual or imagined. Stress is a form of the
Middle English destresse, derived via Old French from the Latin stringere, to draw tight. The term stress
was first employed in a biological context by the endocrinologist Hans Selye in the 1930s. Stress can
thought of as any event that strains or exceeds an individual's ability to cope.

What is Stressor?

Stressor is anything (physical or psychological) that produces stress (negative or positive). For example,
getting a promotion is a positive event, but may also produce a great deal of stress with a the new
responsibilities, work load, etc."

Two Types of Stress

1. Eustress (Positive) - Eustress is a word consisting of two parts. The prefix derives from the Greek eu
meaning either well or good. When attached to the word stress, it literally means good stress.

It is a stress that is healthy or gives one a feeling of fulfillment or other positive feelings. Eustress is a
process of exploring potential gains. A stress that enhances function (physical or mental, such as through
strength training or challenging work) is considered eustress. Examples of positive personal stressors
include:

a. receiving a promotion or raise at work,

b. starting a new job,

c. marriage,

d. buying a home,

e. having a child,

f. moving,

g. taking a vacation, h. holiday seasons,

i. retiring, and

j. taking educational classes or learning a new hobby.

2. Distress (Negative)- Distress is known as the negative stress. Persistent stress that is not resolved
through coping or adaptation, deemed distress, may lead to anxiety or withdrawal (depression)
behavior. Effects of distress are:

a. ineffectiveness at tasks,

b. self-defeating behavior,
c. transitional suicidal behavior,

d. anxiety and fear,

e. loss of interest and initiative, f. poor decision-making.

g. dangerous action,

h. accidents, and

i. apathy and cynicism.

Examples of negative personal stressors include:

a. the death of a spouse,

b. filing for divorce,

c. losing contact with loved ones,

d. the death of a family member,

e. hospitalization (oneself or a family member). f. injury or illness (oneself or a family member),

g. being abused or neglected,

h. separation from a spouse or committed relationship partner,

i. conflict in interpersonal relationships,

j. bankruptcy/Money Problems,

k. unemployment,

l. sleep problems,

m. children's problems at school, and

n. legal problems.

Three Stages of Stress (General Arousal (adaptation] Syndrome/ GAS)

1. Alarm - Alarm is the first stage. When the threat or stressor is identified or realized, the body's stress
response is a state of alarm. During this stage adrenaline will be produced in order to bring about the
fight-or-flight response.

2. Resistance - Resistance is the second stage. If the stressor persists, it becomes necessary to attempt
some means of coping with the stress. Although the body begins to try to adapt to the strains or
demands of the environment, the body cannot keep this up indefinitely, so its resources are gradually
depleted.
3. Exhaustion - Exhaustion is the third and final stage in the GAS model. At this point, all of the body's
resources are eventually depleted and the body is unable to maintain normal function. The initial
autonomic nervous system symptoms may reappear sweating, raised heart rate etc.

The result can manifest itself in obvious illnesses such as ulcers, depression, diabetes, trouble with the
digestive system or even cardiovascular problems, along with other mental illnesses.

Types and Categories of Stress

1. Acute Stress is what most people identify as stress. It makes itself felt through tension headaches,
emotional upsets, gastrointestinal disturbances, feelings of agitation and pressure.

2. Episodic Acute Stress is more serious and can lead to migraines, hypertension, stroke, heart attack,
anxiety, depression, and serious gastrointestinal distress.

3. Chronic Stress is the most serious of all. It's the stress that never ends. It grinds us down until our
resistance is gone. Serious systemic illness such as diabetes, decreased immune-competence, perhaps
cancer is its hallmark.

4. Traumatic Stress is the result of massive acute stress, the effects of which can reverberate through
our systems for years. Posttraumatic stress disorder is treatable and reversible and usually requires
professional aid.

The most common types of stress and anxiety problems are defined by the DSM IV-TR of the American
Psychiatric Association (APA)

A. Types of Short Term Stress

1. Acute Time-Acute time refers to limited stress that come on suddenly (acute) and are over relatively
quickly. Situations like public speaking and doing math in your head fall into this category. These things
may come on without warning but are short in duration.

2. Brief Naturalistic Stress- Brief naturalistic stress is relatively short in duration. Think of a classroom
test or a final exam. These are stresses that rise out of other things (like a course of study) and are over
quickly.

B. Types of Long Term Stress

1. Stressful Event Sequences - Stressful event sequences stress is a single event that starts from a chain
of challenging situations. For example, losing a job or surviving a natural disaster.

2. Chronic Stress - Chronic stress lacks a clear end point. Often, they force people to assume new roles
or change their self-perception. Think of a refugee leaving their native country or an injury leading to
permanent disability. These are life-changing events - you rarely get to go back to the way things were.
3. Distant Stress - Distant stress may have been initiated in the past (like childhood abuse or trauma
resulting from combat experiences) but continue to affect the immune system. Distant stressors have
long-lasting effects on emotional and mental health.

How does Stress Affect Human Behavior?

Stress can contribute to health problems such as headaches, high blood pressure, heart problems, and
skin conditions. Stress may also influence cognitive processes because it is associated with elevated
levels of cortisol, a hormone that can influence brain functioning.

Stress and Criminality

Criminal actors and victims experience various forms of stress related to criminal activity. Stress and
crime are interrelated in a linear fashion (e.g., stress causes crime) and in a reciprocal cycle (e.g.,
victimization inducing stress). Strain theories posit the causal relationship of stress to crime, and
psychological conditions, such as post-traumatic stress disorder and acute stress disorder, explain the
experience of stress caused by criminal action. Using general strain theory to explain the causal
relationship, recent research explores the circumstances that cause stress and result in crime.

Stress can Trigger Violent Crimes

A stressful life event like the death of a parent can trigger individuals to commit violent crimes, a new
study has found. Researchers discovered that in the week after being exposed to stress, people were
more likely to go on to commit a violent crime themselves.

Stress Related Crimes

According to research, pervasive stress on a societal scale also correlates with higher crime, including
homicide, aggravated assault, rape, and robbery and contributes to the outbreak of war, terrorism, and
other social violence.

According to prevailing theories in the field of conflict management, the first stage in the emergence of
war is mounting management, stress political, ethnic, and religious tensions. Such social stress, if
unchecked, erupts as violent conflict or war. When such societal tensions run deep, history confirms
that diplomatic efforts, negotiated settlements, and ceasefires produce fleeting results and provide no
stable basis for lasting peace.
FRUSTRATION

Frustration is a negative emotional state that occurs when one is prevented from reaching a goal.
Frustration is an unpleasant state of tension and heightened sympathetic activity, resulting from a
blocked goal. Frustration is associated with motivation since we won't be frustrated if we were not
motivated to achieve the goal. Frustration may be external or personal.

What is External Frustration?

External frustration is a distress caused by outwardly perceivable conditions that impedes progress
toward a goal.

What is Internal/Personal Frustration?

Personal frustration is a distress caused by the individual's inner characteristic that impedes progress
toward a goal. The sources of frustration are as follows:

1. Physical Obstacles such as drought, typhoons, flat tire, etc. that prevents a person from doing his
plans or fulfilling his wishes.

2. Social Circumstances such as obstacles through the restrictions imposed by other people and customs
and laws of social being.

3. Personal Shortcomings such as handicapped by diseases, blindness, deafness or paralysis.

4. Conflicts between Motives such as wanting to leave college for a year to try painting, but also
wanting to please one's parents by remaining in school.

Is Anger a Source of Frustration?

There is a saying "Frustration begets anger and anger begets aggression." Direct anger and aggression is
expressed toward the object perceived as the cause of the frustration. If a machine does not work, you
might hit it or kick it. If someone gets in your way, you could verbally threaten them or push them aside.
If the source of the frustration is too powerful or threatening for direct aggression, displaced aggression
is often used. The aggression is redirected toward a less threatening and more available object.

An angry person often acts without thinking. The person has given in to the frustration and they have
given up restraint. Anger can be a healthy response if it motivates us to positive action but all too often
the actions we engage in when angry are destructive.

Common Responses to Frustration

1. Aggression - It refers to any response made with the intent of harming some person or objects. The
intentional infliction may be a physical or psychological harm.

2. Displaced Aggression - It refers to the redirecting of aggression to a target other than the actual
source of one's frustration.

3. Scapegoating - It refers to the act of blaming a person or group of people for conditions not of their
making.
4. Escape- It is the act of reducing discomfort by leaving frustrating situation or by psychologically
withdrawing from them such as apathy (pretending not to care) or illegal drug use.

What is the Frustration Aggression Theory?

This is an example of frustration turning into aggression. Aggression is a malicious behavior or attitude
towards someone or something, usually triggered by frustration.

What is Frustration-induced Criminality?

Frustration induced criminality is the idea that when out behavior is directed at a specific goal and is
blocked, arousal increases and the individual experiences a need to reduce it. Individuals "who employ
violence to reduce this frustration will, under extreme frustration, become more vigorous than usual,
possibly even resorting to murder and other violent actions". A good example of this, is the child who
does not have their needs met and becomes frustrated. "The frustration of not having dependency
needs met prevents the child from establishing emotional attachments to other people. The individual
may thus become resentful, angry, and hostile toward other people in general."

What is the Hypothesis of Catharsis?

If you buy a punching bag, or release your aggression by playing Quake, or by screaming, then you will
be less violent and aggressive in day-to-day life, having "released" your aggression.

COPING MECHANISM VS. DEFENSE MECHANISM

Coping mechanisms are the sum total of ways in which people deal with minor to major stress
and trauma. Some of these processes are unconscious ones, others are learned behavior, and still others
are skills that individuals consciously master in order to reduce stress, or other intense emotions like
depression. Not all ways of coping are equally beneficial, and some can actually be very detrimental.

Defense mechanisms refer to an individual's way of reacting to frustration. These are

unconscious psychological strategies brought into play by various entities to cope with reality and to
maintain self-image. Healthy persons normally use different defenses throughout life. According to
Freud, defense mechanisms are methods that ego uses to avoid recognizing ideas or emotions that may
cause personal anxiety; it is the unrealistic strategies used by the ego to discharge tension.

The following is the list of coping mechanisms:

1. Acting out 4. Attack

2. Aim inhibition 5. Avoidance
3. Altruism 6. Compartmentalization
7. Compensation 22. Projection
8. Conversion 23. Provocation
9. Denial 24. Rationalization
10. Displacement 25. Reaction Formation
11. Dissociation 26. Regression
12. Emotionality 27. Repression
13. Fantasy 28. Self-harming
14. Help-rejecting complaining 29. Somatization
15. Idealization 30. Sublimation
16. Identification 31. Substitution
17. Intellectualization 32. Suppression
18. Introjection 33. Symbolization
19. Passive aggression 34. Trivializing
20. Performing rituals 35. Undoing
21. Post-traumatic growth 36. Positive Coping

1. Acting Out - This means literally acting out the desires that are forbidden by the Super ego and yet
desired by the Id. We thus cope with the pressure to do what we believe is wrong by giving in to the
desire. A person who is acting out desires may do it in spite of his/her conscience or may do it with
relatively little thought. Thus, the act may be being deliberately bad or may be thoughtless wrongdoing.

Examples:

a. An addict gives in to his/her desire for alcohol or drugs.

b. A person who dislikes another person seeks to cause actual harm to him/her.

2. Aim Inhibition - Sometimes we have desires and goals that we believe or realize that we are unable to
achieve. In aim inhibition, we lower our sights, reducing our goals to something that we believe is
actually more possible or realistic.

Examples:

a) A person who sexually desires another person but is unable to fulfill that desire (for example the
other person is married) convinces himself/herself that all he/she really wants is to be friends.
b) A person who wants to be a veterinarian does not get sufficient exam grades, so becomes a vet's
assistant instead.

3. Altruism- Avoid your own pains by concentrating on the pains of others. Maybe you can heal yourself
and feel good by healing them and helping them to feel good.

Example:
 a. A self-made millionaire who grew up in poverty sets up a charitable foundation and gains great
pleasure from how it helps others get out of the poverty trap. She receives social accolade and
public recognition for her good deeds gratefully.

4. Attack - 'The best form of defense is attack' is a common saying and is also a common action, and
when we feel threatened or attacked (even psychologically), we will attack back. When a person feels
stressed in some way, he/she may lash out at whoever is in the way, whether the other person is a real
cause or not. He/she may also attack inanimate objects.

Example:

a. A person is having problems with his/her computer. He/ she angrily bangs the keyboard.

5. Avoidance - In avoidance, we simply find ways of avoiding having to face uncomfortable situations,
things or activities. The discomfort, for example, may come from unconscious sexual or aggressive
impulses.

Examples:

a. I dislike another person at work. I avoid walking past his/ her desk. When people talk about
him/her, I say nothing.
b. My son does not like doing homework. Whenever the subject of school comes up, he changes
the topic. He also avoids looking directly at me.

6. Compartmentalization - It is a 'divide and conquer" process for separating thoughts that will conflict
with one another. This may happen when there are different beliefs or even when there are conflicting
values.

Examples:

a. A person who is very religious and is also a scientist holds the opposing beliefs in different
cognitive compartments, such that when they are in church, they can have blind faith, whilst
when they are in the laboratory, they question everything.
b. There is sometimes honor amongst thieves, where together they act as honest people. Thieves
also may be very honest in their family lives.
c. My son is an angel in school and a demon at home.

7. Compensation - Where a person has a weakness in one area, they may compensate by accentuating
or building up strengths in another area. Thus, when they are faced with their weakness, they can say
'ah, but I am good at...', and hence feel reasonably good about the situation.

Examples:

a. A person who failed in Math excelled in English.

b. People who are not intellectually gifted may turn their attention to social skills.
8. Conversion- Conversion occurs where cognitive tensions manifest themselves in physical symptoms.
The symptom may well be symbolic and dramatic and it often acts as a communication about the
situation. Extreme symptoms may include paralysis, blindness, deafness, becoming mute or having a
seizure. Lesser symptoms include tiredness, headaches and twitches.

Example:

a. A person's arm becomes suddenly paralyzed after it has been used to threaten to hit someone
else.

9. Denial - Denial is simply refusing to acknowledge that an event has occurred. The person affected
simply acts as if nothing has happened, behaving in ways those others may see as bizarre.

Examples:

a. A man hears that his wife has been killed, and yet refuses to believe it, still setting the table for
her and keeping her clothes and other accoutrements in the bedroom.
b. Alcoholics vigorously deny that they have a problem.
c. Optimists deny that things may go wrong.
d. Pessimists deny they may succeed.

10. Displacement - It refers to the shifting of actions from a desired target to a substitute target when
there are some reasons why the first target is not permitted or not available.

Examples:

a. The boss gets angry and shouts at me. I go home and shout at my wife. She then shouts at our
son. With nobody is left to displace anger onto, he goes and kicks the dog.
b. A man wins the lottery. He turns to the person next to him and gives the person a big kiss.
c. A boy is afraid of horses. It turns out to be a displaced fear of his father.
d. A religious person who is sexually frustrated focuses his/ her attention on food, becoming a
gourmet.
e. A woman, rejected by her boyfriend, goes out with another man 'on the rebound.

11. Dissociation - Dissociation involves separating a set of thoughts or activities from the main area of
conscious mind, in order to avoid the conflict that this would cause. This can also appear as taking an
objective, third-person perspective, where you 'go to the balcony' and look down on the situation in
order to remove emotion from your perspective (this is sometimes called dissociation of affect).

Example:

a. A religious person preaches kindness to all, yet is cruelly strict to children, without realizing that
there is a conflict between the two.

12. Emotionality - When we become stressed or tension is caused, a number of negative emotions may
start to build, including anger, frustration, fear, jealousy and so on. When we display these emotions, it
can affect others around us, arousing similar or polar feelings. Some people are either not good at
restraining their emotions or are less concerned about the effect on others and more about the personal
benefits of emotional outbursts. As a result, they regularly and habitually display extreme emotions.

Examples:

a. Teenagers often cannot contain the emotions caused by physiological and temporal
development. As a result, they can be very emotional and can contribute significantly to family
problems.
b. A man who has had long relationship problems is given to angry outbursts that both give
temporary respite and yet add to the cycle of relational failures.

13. Fantasy or Day Dreaming - When we cannot achieve or do something that we want, we channel the
energy created by the desire into fantastic imaginings. Fantasy also provides temporary relief from the
general stresses of everyday living.

Examples:

a. A boy who is punished by a teacher creates fantasies of shooting the teacher (remember the
movie 'If').
b. A student who flunks university exams imagines that they could have passed the exams if they
really wanted to".

14. Fight-or-Flight Reaction - When we perceive a significant threat to us, then our bodies get ready
either for a fight to the death or a desperate flight from certain defeat by a clearly superior adversary. It
also happens when a creative new idea makes us feel uncertain about things of which we previously
were sure. The biochemical changes in our brain make us aggressive, fighting the new idea, or make us
timid, fleeing from it.

Example:

a. A lion suddenly appeared in front of a person while walking in the forest. That person may
choose to wrestle the lion or run away to save his life.

15. Help-rejecting Complaining - A person becomes upset or otherwise elicits supporting actions from
other people. When helpful suggestions or other comfort is offered, however, he/ she reject this and
return to his/her complaint.

Example:

a. A person complains to his/her partner about problems at work. When the partner suggests ways
of resolving the problems, the solutions are rejected out of hand and the person continues to
complain.

16. Idealization - It is the over-estimation of the desirable qualities and underestimation of the
limitations of a desired thing. We also tend to idealize those things that we have chosen or acquired.
The opposite of Idealization is Demonization, where something that is not desired or disliked has its
weak points exaggerated and its strong points played down.

Examples:

a. A teenager in awe of a rock star idealizes his/her idol, imagining him/her to have a perfect life,
to be kind and thoughtful, and so on. He/she ignore the star's grosser habits and rough
background.
b. I buy a sports car and look admiringly at its sleek lines. I ignore the fact that it drinks fuel and is
rather uncomfortable.

17. Identification It occurs when a person changes apparent facets of his/her personality such that
he/she appears to be more like other people. This process may be to copy specific people or it may be to
change to an idealized prototype. Areas of identification may include external elements, such as clothing
and hair styles (which may be chosen without consciously realizing the influences that are at play) as
well as internal factors such as beliefs, values and attitudes.

Examples:

a. A girl dresses like her friends, as much because she likes the garb as any conscious desire to be
like them.
b. A person in a meeting adopts similar body language of his/her manager and tends to take the
same viewpoint.

18. Intellectualization - This refers to a 'flight into reason", where the person avoids uncomfortable
emotions by focusing on facts and logic. The situation is treated as an interesting problem that engages
the person on a rational basis, whilst the emotional aspects are completely ignored as being irrelevant.
Jargon is often used as a device of intellectualization. By using complex terminology, the focus becomes
on the words and finer definitions rather than the human effects.

Example:

a. A person who is in heavily debt builds a complex spreadsheet of how long it would take to repay
using different payment options and interest rates.

19. Introjection - Introjection occurs as a coping mechanism when we take on attributes of other people
who seem better able to cope with the situation than we do.

Examples:

a. I have to give a presentation but feel scared. I put on the hat of Abraham Lincoln and imagine I
am confidently giving an important speech/address to the nation.
b. A child is threatened at his/her school. He/she takes on the strong-defender attributes that
he/she perceives in his/ her father and pushes away the bully.
20. Passive Aggression - A person who uses passive-aggressive method to cope with stresses does this
by 'attacking' others through passive means. Thus, the aggressive intent is cloaked by the passive
method. Passive aggression often appears when a person is asked to do something which he/she wants
to avoid for some reason (such as priority of other work). By appearing to agree but not making any real
commitment, he/she can avoid the action.

Examples:

a. A sales person uses a persuasive sales pattern. The customer agrees that this is just what he/she
wants, but when it comes to signing the order, he/she finds reasons why he/she cannot buy
today.
b. A change manager asks people to change what they do. They agree but do not actually do what
they agreed to do.

21. Post-traumatic Growth - An individual who has suffered a traumatic experience somehow finds
ways to turn it into something good. Typically: Interpersonal relationships are improved, with friends
and family valued more and more time being spent in helping others. Self-perception changes through
the increase in resiliency gained from realizing you can cope with hardship.

Examples:

a. A mother who has lost a child to cancer raises significant money for cancer charities.
b. After a terrorist attack, people are friendlier with others nearby and help out.

22. Projection - When a person has uncomfortable thoughts or feelings, he/she may project these onto
other people, assigning the thoughts or feelings that he/she need to repress to a convenient alternative
target. Projection may also happen to obliterate attributes of other people with which we are
uncomfortable. We assume that they are like us, and in doing so we allow ourselves to ignore those
attributes they have with which we are uncomfortable.

Examples:

a. An unfaithful husband suspects his wife of infidelity.

b. A woman who is attracted to a fellow worker accuses the person of sexual advances.

23. Provocation or Free-floating - When a person feels stressed, his/her way to avoid dealing with the
real issues is to provoke others into some kind of reaction. The attention can then be put on the other
person and away from the originator's stress.

Examples:

a. A very common context for provocation is between teenagers and their parents, siblings and
teachers. The teenager deliberately does something reprehensible, gets told off, and then
blames the other person.
 b. Provocation is also a common cause of fights, both verbal and physical. A person who needs to
affirm his/her power will provoke a weaker other in order to escalate into a conflict he/she is
confident he/she can win.

24. Reaction Formation - Reaction Formation occurs when a person feels an urge to do or say something
and then actually does or says something that is effectively the opposite of what he/she really wants. It
also appears as a defense against a feared social punishment. If I fear that I will be criticized for
something, I very visibly act in a way that shows I am personally a long way from the feared position.

Examples:

a. A person who is angry with a colleague actually ends up being particularly courteous and
friendly towards him her.
b. A man who is gay has a number of conspicuous heterosexual affairs and openly criticizes gays.

25. Rationalization - When something happens that we find difficult to accept, then we will make up a
logical reason why it has happened. We rationalize to ourselves. We also find it very important to
rationalize to other people, even those we do not know.

Examples:

a. A person evades paying taxes and then rationalizes it by talking about how the government
wastes money (and how it is better for people to keep what they can).
b. A person fails to get good enough results to get into a chosen university and then says that
he/she didn't want to go there anyway.

26. Regression - Regression involves taking the position of a child in some problematic situation, rather
than acting in a more adult way. This is usually in response to stressful situations, with greater levels of
stress potentially leading to more overt regressive acts. Regressive behavior can be simple and harmless,
such as a person who is sucking a pen (as a Freudian regression to oral fixation), or may be more
dysfunctional, such as crying or using petulant arguments.

Examples:

a. A person who suffers a mental breakdown assumes a fetal position, rocking and crying.
b. A college student carefully takes his/her teddy-bear with him/her (and goes to sleep cuddling it).

27. Repression - Repression involves placing uncomfortable thoughts in relatively inaccessible areas of
the subconscious mind. Thus, when things occur that we are unable to cope with now, we push them
away, either planning to deal with them at another time or hoping that they will fade away on their own
accord. The level of 'forgetting' in repression can vary from a temporary abolition of uncomfortable
thoughts to a high level of amnesia, where events that caused the anxiety are buried very deep.

Examples:

a. A child who is abused by a parent later has no recollection of the events, but has trouble
forming relationships.
 b. A man has a phobia of spiders but cannot remember the first time he was afraid of them.

28. Self-harming - The person physically deliberately hurts himself/herself in some way or otherwise
puts themselves at high risk of harm.

Examples:

a. Slapping oneself
b. Punching a hard wall
c. Cutting oneself with a knife
d. Reckless driving
e. Taking narcotic drugs

29. Somatization - Somatization occurs where a psychological problem turns into physical and
subconscious symptoms. This can range from simple twitching to skin rashes, heart problems and worse.

Examples:

a. A policeman, who has to be very restricted in his professional behavior, develops hypertension.
b. A worried actor develops a twitch.

30. Sublimation - It is the transformation of unwanted impulses into something less harmful. This can
simply be a distracting release or may be a constructive and valuable piece of work. Many sports and
games are sublimations of aggressive urges, as we sublimate the desire to fight into the ritualistic
activities of formal competition.

Examples:

a. I am angry. I go out and chop wood. I end up with a useful pile of firewood. I am also fitter and
nobody is harmed.
b. A person with strong sexual urges becomes an artist.

31. Suppression - This is where the person consciously and deliberately pushes down any thought that
leads to feelings of anxiety. Actions that take the person into anxiety-creating situations may also be
avoided.

Examples:

a. An older man has sexual feelings towards a teenager and quickly suppresses the thought.
b. I am about to take a short-cut down an alleyway. There are some people down there. I decide to
take the longer, but more interesting' route.

32. Substitution - This takes something that leads to discomfort and replace it with something that does
not lead to discomfort.

Examples:
 a. Rather than making a difficult phone call, I call my daughter for a chat.
b. Instead of putting up a mirror, I put up a photograph of myself when I was younger.

33. Symbolization - Symbolization is a way of handling inner conflicts by turning them into distinct
symbols. Symbols are often physical items, although there may also be symbolic acts and metaphoric
ideas.

Examples:

a. A soldier explains his decision to join the army as 'defending the flag'.
b. A man asks for the woman's hand, symbolizing the 'hand in marriage'.

34. Trivializing - When we are faced with a disappointment over something that is important to us, we
are faced with the problem of having our expectations and predictions dashed. We may even have told
other people about it beforehand, making it doubly embarrassing that we have not gained what we
expected. One way that we trivialize is to make something a joke, laughing it off.

Examples:

a. A girl rejects the advances of a boy. He tells his friends that she isn't that pretty anyway.
b. I lose a lot of money due to gambling. I tell myself that I didn't need it anyway.

35. Undoing - It refers to performance of an act to "undo' a previous unacceptable act or thought.
Confession is a form of undoing, including that done in a church to a priest or a secret admission to a
close friend.

Examples:

a. A man who has been unkind to his wife buys her flowers (but does not apologize).
b. A person who has barged in front of others in a queue holds the door open for them.

36. Positive Coping - There are a number of approaches that we can take to cope in a positive way with
problems, including:

a. Immediate problem-solving: Seeking to fix the problem that is the immediate cause of our
difficulty.

b. Root-cause solving: Seeking to fix the underlying cause such that the problem will never
recur.

c. Benefit-finding: Looking for the good things amongst the bad.

d. Spiritual growth: Finding ways of turning the problem into a way to grow 'spiritually' or
emotionally.
Example:

a. A student fails an exam. He/she views it as an opportunity to deepen his/her learning and study
hard.