Introduction
In psychological terms, adjustment refers to a consistent process of an individual’s modifying its behavior in order to cope with the influence of environmental factors. Achievement of adjustment is the name of creating harmony between an individual and his/her environment. For this purpose, certain psychological issues that are caused by different types of stressors need to be overcome. Here, it is important to describe that stressors are the factors that result in stress like death, divorce, loss, murder, blunders, etc (Santrock, 2006).
Summary of Articles
The first story selected for the purpose of investigation into the psychological issues is titled as “Nearing Life’s End, A Mother Reflects on ‘The Most Important Thing I Did’”. In this article, a mother of two young daughters namely Patricia Mishler is found to have been diagnosed with a life threatening disease at the age of 73 years that has aggravated her fear of death. At that stage of her life, she realizes how great it was to have two young daughters, and how miserable it was to know that she would leave them (as a result of death). Her daughters acknowledge the support and care that they received from their mother at different stages of their lives. According to Patricia’s remarks, she takes death for a normal thing, but at that particular stage of her life, she finds it miserable to be unable “to do things” that should have been doing at a young age. She is also enveloped by the apprehension of losing her offspring as a result of her death (impending) (“Nearing life’s end,” 2016).
The second story to be summarized is “For Decades; He Carried Guilt for Another Soldier’s Death” narrated by Alaniz-Simonds. The Central character in the story, David Taylor, is now retired from the army. It was in 1991that he killed a soldier namely Alaniz as a result of friendly fire. This incident remained concealed for years as none except Taylor was alive to that. He could never get rid of the guilt of his death ever after 25 years since his retirement. Finally, he made a clean breast of it and disclosed the truth of Alaniz’s accidental death to her widow who did not hold Taylor responsible for the incident and advised him not to blame himself for it. However, she wanted her husband to be remembered by him, as she wanted him to be remembered outside herself. Despite the consoling remarks of Alaniz-Simonds (the widow), he could not manage to remove his guilt though he was a little less anxious than before his confession (“For decades, he,” 2016).
Adjustment Issues Identified
Major stressors identified in the first story are Lau Gehrig, which is a disease and impending death. The main issues identified in this post are anxiety, depression, and apprehension. The lady regrets having to spend the remaining part of her life inactively. Furthermore, the fear of impending death is also vital, as death meant losing her loved ones (two young daughters).
Adjustment issues, as found in the second story, stand guilt, anxiety, and maladaptive behavior. These issues are based on one stressor, which is a blunder i.e. killing of Taylor’s friend by friendly fire. Even after the confession of truth and conciliation received by the deceased’s widow, he is unable to normalize his feelings.
Alternative Strategies
Following alternative coping strategies are found suitable for Patricia Mishler (the patient found in the first story):
Activating Therapy: It involves assigning a set of strategies to a patient, so he/she could get rid of negative feeling arising from his/her sense of inactivity (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2016). Mishler’s disease has made her unable to perform the tasks that her routine life before. So an alternative set of activities can be helpful for her in keeping her mind busy, so her thinking can be put in the positive direction.
Psychotherapy: It refers to a process wherein a patient is treated by providing him/her a blend of rational and emotional reasons to live. It involves identifying the root cause of the issue; putting it into the knowledge of the patient; and helping him/her get rid of it by modifying his/her sentimental response and mental approach to that (Santrock, 2006). Mishler can reach a state of harmony with aging, impending death, and other underlying issues by undergoing a proper process of psychotherapy.
Social Help: Social help is the name of being part of a community that is suffering from the same issue as found with a particular patient (Santrock, 2006). Social media platforms have made it easier than ever before to achieve this purpose. Mishler can overcome her problems by exchanging the ideas with her ‘disease-fellows’ and reaching commonly known solutions. It will also help her universalize her issue ultimately resulting into its alleviation.
Alternative strategies explained below are found potential enough to help David Taylor out of his adjustment disorder:
BICEPS: It in an abbreviation of "brevity, immediacy, centrality, expectancy, proximity, and simplicity." It is specifically used to bring a person who has encountered a stressful event to normal life by identifying the issue and finding out its solution (Santrock, 2006). It can help Taylor remove the guilt relating to the accident of ‘friendly fire’.
EMDR: In Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy or EMDR in short, a therapist reprograms the emotional feelings associated with a stressful event of past. It is helpful when a mental disorder such as anxiety, guilt, and depression is caused by the images or thoughts of a tragic past event same as in the case of Taylor (Santrock, 2006).
Social Support: As discussed, it is the way to socialize one’s issue by sharing and exchanging ideas. Taylor can find solace in being a part of a social group wherein members are suffering from the same category of guilt and anxiety as he.
Recommended Strategy
Bombardier, D'Amico, & Jordan (1990), in their comprehensive research, find that it is essential for psyche patients whose stressor is a chronic disease to come up with an emotional solution. Their issue must be appraised and solved using emotional scales and tools respectively. Therefore, psychotherapy is the best recommendable strategy for Patricia as it not only treats an issue in a rational manner but also considers its emotional aspects.
For Taylor, EMDR is found to be most preferable. His main issue is a false emotional association with a past event. He holds himself responsible for an incident without any solid reason of its being so whether measured by social norms or by legal perspective. So, his emotional response to the incident of friendly fire needs to be returned and normalized. And, this coping strategy is found to be preferable for people suffering from adjustment disorder based on past memories (Schuder, n.d.).
References
Bombardier, C. H., D'Amico, C., & Jordan, J. S. (1990). The relationship of appraisal and coping to chronic illness adjustment. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 28(4), 297-304. doi:10.1016/0005-7967(90)90081-s
Capuzzi, D., & Stauffer, M. D. (2016). ACA Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions. New York: Wiley
For Decades, He Carried Guilt for Another Soldier’s Death [Audio File]. (2016, April 9). Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/2016/04/09/473536609/for-decades-he-carried-guilt-for-another-soldiers-death
Nearing Life’s End, A Mother Reflects on ‘The Most Important Thing I Did’ [Audio File]. (2016, May 6). Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/2016/05/06/476872164/nearing-lifes-end-a-mother-reflects-on-the-most-important-thing-i-did
Santrock, J. (2006). Human Adjustment: 2007 Custom Edition. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.
Schuder, K. (n.d.). Techniques for Treating Adjustment Disorder. Love to Know. Retrieved May 16, 206 from http://stress.lovetoknow.com/techniques-treating-adjustment-disorder
