The Family Under Stress

For this last weeks class we discussed different crises that inevitably come up in a family setting.  We were asked to think of a few that we would expect for our future family, and then anticipate how you could best be able to handle that crisis.  I thought of crises such as:

• getting into grad school and having to move
• the birth of the first child
• settling down in a more permanent residence
• birth of other children

In the our textbook it says, "You can't control all of the things that happen in your life, but you can control the way you respond to them."  One of the ways that we map out a crisis event in our class is by the ABCX model: 

Actual (stress) event

Both resources and responses

Cognition

                                                                    total eXperience 

Some of the coping strategies that I read in the textbook seemed to be very helpful and sensible.  One example reads:  "It is important to believe in yourself and in your ability to deal with difficult situations in order to be effective in a crisis.  In a crisis, you may have to remind yourself that you and your family are people with strengths and the capacity to cope effectively."