Lecture 55- Appraisal-Focused Coping — Transcript

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1. 0:17Hello friends, this is lecture 5 of
2. 0:20module 11 and I'm Shubra Sana your
3. 0:23course instructor.
4. 0:25As promised I'm back with the coping
5. 0:29skills focusing on cognitive reappraisal
6. 0:34of the situation.
7. 0:37Friends, in this module we have already
8. 0:40talked about a number of strategies
9. 0:44which focuses on changing the situation
10. 0:48as well as the strategies which focuses
11. 0:52on changing our emotions associated with
12. 0:57that situation.
13. 1:00Now we are here with certain strategies
14. 1:05which can change your perception about
15. 1:09the situation thereby changing your
16. 1:13emotional experiences about it.
17. 1:19When
18. 1:21you learn about emotions
19. 1:24you must have noticed one thing.
20. 1:27We feel emotions
21. 1:31the way we interpret the situation.
22. 1:37There is a popular story
23. 1:40where a person who was sleeping on his
24. 1:43cot on the rooftop
25. 1:48erroneously
26. 1:49misperceived the rope as a snake and he
27. 1:54got frightened.
28. 1:57The moment he lit the lamp which was
29. 2:01near to him, he found that oh it is
30. 2:05simply a rope and the whole emotion of
31. 2:09fear went away in seconds.
32. 2:14Although this is just a humorous story
33. 2:18that we all have listened to, it's a
34. 2:22very powerful indicator of what
35. 2:26appraisal can do, what your own
36. 2:29interpretation can do in order to change
37. 2:33the emotions linked to the situation.
38. 2:38If I think there is a snake, I will be
39. 2:42afraid.
40. 2:43When I get to know this is not a snake,
41. 2:46this is just a rope, it can't do any
42. 2:49harm to me, I'm not at all afraid of it.
43. 2:54Basically, cognitive appraisal or
44. 2:58reappraisal techniques try to do the
45. 3:01same thing. So we will try to get a
46. 3:05deeper understanding of what a cognitive
47. 3:09appraisal focused techniques do, what
48. 3:14they are and how these are helpful in
49. 3:18reducing the experience of distress.
50. 3:25So basic the first thing that we must
51. 3:28talk about is what appraisal focus
52. 3:32scoping is.
53. 3:34This is an appraisalriven approach.
54. 3:38Appraisal driven approach means an
55. 3:40approach which is driven which is guided
56. 3:44by our own appraisal of the situation.
57. 3:48What is appraisal? Appraisal means how
58. 3:52do we see a particular situation?
59. 3:58How or what kind of interpretation do I
60. 4:03make of that particular situation?
61. 4:07Whether I interpret the situation as
62. 4:10difficult, as challenging, as easier, as
63. 4:15containing a lot of opportunities,
64. 4:18as interesting.
65. 4:20What is my interpretation about the
66. 4:22situation is?
67. 4:25The second important thing is that
68. 4:30my cognition will lead to certain
69. 4:33emotions.
70. 4:35If I find the situation difficult, I
71. 4:38will be puzzled. If I find it
72. 4:40interesting, I will be interested in
73. 4:43that. If I find it boring or dull,
74. 4:48I will get bored so easily and I will
75. 4:51try to get away from it and think
76. 4:54similar to that.
77. 4:56Now what happens
78. 4:58sometimes my interpretation can lead to
79. 5:03positive appraisal of the situation
80. 5:06which makes me motivated to engage with
81. 5:09it to deal with it successfully.
82. 5:13My appraisal of the situation can lead
83. 5:17to positive emotions experienced by me.
84. 5:21On the other hand,
85. 5:24my interpretation of the situation or my
86. 5:27appraisal of the situation can also lead
87. 5:31to negative emotions. Can also lead to
88. 5:35selfdefeating behaviors. can also lead
89. 5:39to extreme dependence upon
90. 5:43defense mechanisms and things like that.
91. 5:47Now what to do? Cognition is the root of
92. 5:52everything.
93. 5:53So if I do not treat the root cause and
94. 5:57I try to make cosmetic corrections on
95. 6:02the offshoots of it, the impact will not
96. 6:06be longlasting.
97. 6:08So what I'm supposed to do? I need to
98. 6:12make changes at the root cause of the
99. 6:15problem. That is I need to do a thorough
100. 6:19cognitive restructuring.
101. 6:22So that the offshoots can get changed
102. 6:26automatically
103. 6:28and the change should be sustainable. It
104. 6:32should be longlasting as well.
105. 6:36This is the whole focus. This is the
106. 6:40approach that we are going to adopt. So
107. 6:43how do we do it? We do it by questioning
108. 6:48the assumptions
109. 6:51which led me to evaluate the situation
110. 6:56the way I do. Okay. And if I found that
111. 7:01my appraisal of the situation is based
112. 7:04upon faulty assumptions
113. 7:07upon faulty beliefs
114. 7:10I am supposed to make required
115. 7:14corrections in that.
116. 7:17Now what happens? I can transform my
117. 7:21cognitive processes
118. 7:24through several actions like uh
119. 7:27detaching
120. 7:29uh the situation from the feeling of
121. 7:32being too much challenging.
122. 7:36What does it mean? Okay, I can give you
123. 7:38a practical example. It means that
124. 7:41sometimes you you might have noticed
125. 7:44that very young children
126. 7:46they make their classroom rank a po
127. 7:52question of their prestige. So if they
128. 7:54don't uh secure the highest marks in the
129. 7:59classroom they find it very humiliating
130. 8:02or if they have lost a bet with their
131. 8:06friends. Okay. So for them it is very
132. 8:09very very important that they come first
133. 8:12that they stand first amongst their
134. 8:14classmates. If they don't stand first it
135. 8:18will be very humiliating for them. So
136. 8:22this is something not required.
137. 8:25I have made this situation overly
138. 8:29challenging for myself. No matter if I
139. 8:32get 99.9%
140. 8:35or 98.7%
141. 8:38it is hardly going to make any
142. 8:40qualitative difference in my life in
143. 8:44most of the situations except I'm not uh
144. 8:47except for the competitions which are
145. 8:50very very challenging and just 1% marks
146. 8:54can make a lot of change in my
147. 8:56positioning like you know I or neat or
148. 9:00Hey that is a different situation but
149. 9:04for most of the examination the
150. 9:07situation is not like that rather I make
151. 9:11it
152. 9:13quite challenging for myself and I'm not
153. 9:15ready to lose my hands I hold it so
154. 9:20tightly that the situation becomes
155. 9:23pressing for me so I can detach such
156. 9:27kind of undue challenges from the
157. 9:30situation. I can refine my own
158. 9:34aspirations
159. 9:35and make them more reasonable.
160. 9:40Why do I think that I should stood first
161. 9:43in all the examinations I take up
162. 9:47throughout my academic journey? Why do I
163. 9:50think so? Other people are also
164. 9:53studying. they can also sometimes
165. 9:56outperform and this is very normal. So
166. 10:00if I all the time make unrealistic
167. 10:03aspirations and set up goals which are
168. 10:07not practical to achieve, I'm not going
169. 10:10to get anything out of it except stress.
170. 10:14So refining one's aspirations and
171. 10:17ambitions can also help. Then what
172. 10:21happens? I can recognize the humorous
173. 10:24side of the circumstance.
174. 10:28Okay.
175. 10:29If I think, "Oh my god, my my shoe is
176. 10:33now broken. It is all ruined,"
177. 10:37I will feel bad about it. But if I think
178. 10:40that okay now I have broken my shoes, so
179. 10:43I'm going to get a new one. My emotions
180. 10:46will be changed. So recognizing the
181. 10:50lighter node of the situation, the
182. 10:52humorous side of the situation can help
183. 10:56you foster a more positive out uh
184. 10:59mindset. And this is what we actually do
185. 11:03in the appraisal focused coping
186. 11:06strategies. This is the appraisal
187. 11:08focused coping is all about. I am trying
188. 11:12to restructure the basic cognition
189. 11:17which I apply to interpret the
190. 11:20situation.
191. 11:22As soon as I change the interpretation
192. 11:24of the situation, the allied emotions
193. 11:29get changed automatically.
194. 11:32My response to the situation will also
195. 11:35change and the perception of a stress
196. 11:39will be substantially altered by the
197. 11:43series of change which is induced with
198. 11:47the help of cognitive restructuring.
199. 11:51Another important part which I will try
200. 11:55to reiterate here restate again is that
201. 12:00if you bring about changes by doing
202. 12:05specific restructuring in your cognitive
203. 12:08framework
204. 12:10the impact would be longlasting
205. 12:14much more uh deeprooted
206. 12:18as compared to any other strategy which
207. 12:22is employed. Okay. So with this brief
208. 12:27introduction of appraisal focused coping
209. 12:30strategies, let us discuss about some
210. 12:34popular strategies quickly.
211. 12:37Of course the first one is cognitive
212. 12:40restructuring. So there is a structure
213. 12:43but that structure is not appropriate.
214. 12:46So I try to redesign it in a slightly or
215. 12:52moderately different way. This is simply
216. 12:58designing it's simply like designing an
217. 13:02you know uh uh building for you
218. 13:05according to some purpose. So you try to
219. 13:09put it on paper in the form of blueprint
220. 13:13and once you make a blueprint you try to
221. 13:16assess whether that particular structure
222. 13:19suits your demand suits your
223. 13:21requirement. If not you try to change
224. 13:24and adjust the elements a little bit
225. 13:27leading to a new kind of a structure
226. 13:30which is more suitable for your purpose.
227. 13:33This is what we are going to do with our
228. 13:36thoughts with the thought process. Okay.
229. 13:41So what we do here we assess what we are
230. 13:45thinking and then we try to identify the
231. 13:49harmful thoughts. Harmful thoughts which
232. 13:52can build up negative emotions in me
233. 13:55which can remind me of my
234. 13:58incapabilities.
235. 14:00which can continuously tell me that I'm
236. 14:03no good. I can't manage anything or
237. 14:07anything like that.
238. 14:10So I am going to identify those harmful
239. 14:14thoughts first and not only identify I'm
240. 14:17going to confront them. I'm going to ask
241. 14:21myself why do I think like that?
242. 14:26What what is the reason behind my
243. 14:28thinking?
244. 14:29What are the incidences that have led me
245. 14:34to draw certain conclusions
246. 14:37which I have drawn
247. 14:39and I will then try to adjust them in a
248. 14:43more positive manner which can provide a
249. 14:47better perspective a better framework of
250. 14:51thinking for me. This is the basic
251. 14:55assumption behind the beex cognitive
252. 14:58behavior therapy which is a very popular
253. 15:02therapy in psychology and which has been
254. 15:06used by professionals
255. 15:08in almost all segments of counseling and
256. 15:12therapies.
257. 15:15We can utilize these techniques of
258. 15:17cognitive restructuring
259. 15:20for what? to change the perception of
260. 15:24stressful events.
261. 15:27If I change the perception of the
262. 15:30situation, the whole story will
263. 15:33automatically be changed.
264. 15:36So, reappraisal means looking at the
265. 15:39situation from a different perspective.
266. 15:44My mama scolded me badly this morning.
267. 15:49She stopped me from watching my favorite
268. 15:51movie. I felt so bad. I was so engaged
269. 15:55watching that movie. I liked that show a
270. 15:58lot. But my mama simply scolded me and
271. 16:02she switched the television off. I felt
272. 16:05bad, really bad. I felt hurt. I I argued
273. 16:10with my mother. I maybe fought with her.
274. 16:15But after 2 hours
275. 16:18suddenly I realized when I entered the
276. 16:22school premise that okay
277. 16:25today was the day when I was supposed to
278. 16:28submit my assignment. I my and my mother
279. 16:31wanted me to complete that assignment
280. 16:34instead of watching movie so that I
281. 16:38should not get scolded or punished by my
282. 16:41teacher
283. 16:42in front of my classmates.
284. 16:45This sudden realization
285. 16:47can give me a new perspective to look at
286. 16:51the incidents what happened in the
287. 16:53morning and it is certainly capable of
288. 16:57changing my feelings towards that
289. 17:00incident. So sometimes looking at a
290. 17:04particular incident from a fresh
291. 17:06perspective, from a different
292. 17:07perspective can lead to a more positive
293. 17:12interpretation of that and immediately
294. 17:16reduces stress experience associated
295. 17:19with it.
296. 17:21The same is true for challenging
297. 17:24circumstances.
298. 17:26If I see the situation as problematic,
299. 17:30my reaction towards it would be
300. 17:32different. If I find an opportunity
301. 17:36available in this situation
302. 17:39as is popularly known as
303. 17:43uh opportunity in difficulty.
304. 17:47this particular approach will yield to
305. 17:50different kind of response a different
306. 17:53kind of approach towards that situation.
307. 17:58Similarly, positive thinking is a very
308. 18:02effective tool which is available to us.
309. 18:07If I try to keep an eye over the
310. 18:10positive side of a situation,
311. 18:14I can concentrate on the optimistic side
312. 18:18of a situation.
313. 18:20I will feel grateful towards everything.
314. 18:25But if I keep counting about the
315. 18:28drawbacks, about the problems, about the
316. 18:30shortcomings,
317. 18:32my emotions will certainly be much more
318. 18:36negative, much more stressful.
319. 18:40That is why people said that one must be
320. 18:45grateful for everything he or she has.
321. 18:50We must be grateful for the life we have
322. 18:54gotten up awake and alert in the
323. 18:57morning. A big boound to us by the
324. 19:01mother nature. Many people do not wake
325. 19:04up
326. 19:05right. So whatever you have is an
327. 19:09achievement for you is an accomplishment
328. 19:12in your hand. It is an asset in your
329. 19:15hand. So instead of counting
330. 19:17shortcomings,
331. 19:19why not count the blessings that you
332. 19:22have and be grateful for that. This
333. 19:25positive thinking definitely
334. 19:30inculcates
335. 19:31positive uh approach towards life and
336. 19:35help people reduce stress in a
337. 19:39significant up to a significant extent.
338. 19:42I should say self-t talk is again an
339. 19:46interesting thing. If you do not have
340. 19:49anyone else to talk with or you cannot
341. 19:52confide talking to other people, you can
342. 19:55talk to yourself
343. 19:58and talk to yourself as if you are
344. 20:00talking to someone else. You can adopt
345. 20:03different perspective while talking. You
346. 20:06can adopt the perspective or the role of
347. 20:09a friend who is simply listening to you
348. 20:12very passionately,
349. 20:14empathetically.
350. 20:16You can adopt a role of a friendly
351. 20:20critique
352. 20:22who is uh having very good intentions
353. 20:25towards you. But at the same time
354. 20:28the person will be ready to challenge
355. 20:31whenever you make claims which are
356. 20:35irrational. Whenever you make statements
357. 20:39which are not logical or which are based
358. 20:42on faulty beliefs or assumptions.
359. 20:46So you can take up different
360. 20:47perspectives and pursuing those
361. 20:51perspectives you can encourage yourself
362. 20:55uh to talk to yourself. Now you can
363. 20:57boost your self-esteem by positive
364. 21:00affirmations about yourself. That means
365. 21:03you can simply remind you of your
366. 21:07previous achievements or how
367. 21:09successfully you dealt with situations
368. 21:12like this in past also. So why not in
369. 21:17future why not once again of course you
370. 21:20will be able to do that. So th this kind
371. 21:23of self-affirmation
372. 21:25will boost your self-confidence and you
373. 21:28will be better able to manage the
374. 21:30situation. You can also talk to yourself
375. 21:33in a very appreciating manner, in a very
376. 21:36kind and loving manner. Uh so that
377. 21:41you can have a faith in yourself. You
378. 21:44can have a faith in your own goodness.
379. 21:47You can remind yourself of your own good
380. 21:50qualities
381. 21:52which will let you know how good you are
382. 21:56as a human being, how effective you are
383. 21:59or how important you are to other people
384. 22:03surrounding you.
385. 22:05Meaning making is another big issue.
386. 22:09See the worst part of life for anybody
387. 22:13is one in which we do not find any
388. 22:18meaning. If I start finding that my life
389. 22:23is now worthless, I have no meaning, I'm
390. 22:26not important to anyone or I cannot do
391. 22:30anything
392. 22:31which is important in the life of
393. 22:34anybody, I will certainly feel
394. 22:37depressed. I will lose interest and
395. 22:41engagement in doing almost anything.
396. 22:45So meaning making or you can say
397. 22:48discovering a purpose, a meaning, a you
398. 22:52know a worth in whatever you do is
399. 22:56something very important. Similarly, if
400. 22:59I find myself in a stressful situation,
401. 23:04what kind of purpose can this situation
402. 23:08serve in my life? What will I achieve?
403. 23:12not only the tangible rewards or uh
404. 23:15anything you know reward or recognition
405. 23:19rather what kind of abilities I will
406. 23:22achieve what kind of emotional strength
407. 23:25I will achieve if I handle this
408. 23:28situation successfully.
409. 23:30If I try to focus myself more on this
410. 23:34kind of things. the importance of
411. 23:37handling stressful situations
412. 23:40effectively, successfully for future
413. 23:44growth, for self-growth.
414. 23:47This is going to help me deal with the
415. 23:50stress I currently have. Okay, so this
416. 23:54is another important thing. Benefit
417. 23:58finding of course there is a silver
418. 24:00lining in every dark cloud, right? So
419. 24:03maybe this situation looks bad right now
420. 24:07but this will certainly have some good
421. 24:10aspects which I will be able to discover
422. 24:14later on. At least having such
423. 24:17hopefulness, such optimism at hand can
424. 24:21help reducing the stress significantly.
425. 24:27Then refraraming the stressful situation
426. 24:30in a more positive or manageable manner.
427. 24:34Right? A more positive means something
428. 24:37which has good aspects also. It is it
429. 24:42doesn't mean that a stressful situation
430. 24:44always has everything bad and bad.
431. 24:49Rather it also teaches us a lot of good
432. 24:53things. And if I look at this situation
433. 24:59in a way which makes me feel I can
434. 25:02manage it, it is going to boost my self
435. 25:07efficacy leading to alteration of
436. 25:12perception of that stressful situation
437. 25:16and reduction in the feeling of stress.
438. 25:20Dec catastrophizing is something
439. 25:23interesting.
440. 25:25Most of us get overwhelmed by the idea
441. 25:30of the possible harms the situation can
442. 25:34bring to us. Right?
443. 25:38Sometimes or many times in life we
444. 25:42perceive situations
445. 25:44as being disproportionately
446. 25:47harmful.
447. 25:49than as compared to the real harm that
448. 25:53they present to us. So catastrophizing
449. 25:58situations lead us to
450. 26:02intense stress or intense situation of
451. 26:07distress and negativity and sadness and
452. 26:11depression and helplessness.
453. 26:14Instead of that if I try to
454. 26:16decatastrophize
455. 26:18by uh using different kind of a
456. 26:21strategies refraraming look at the
457. 26:23positive side of the thing or even
458. 26:26simply by doing an honest assessment of
459. 26:29the harm which is associated with the
460. 26:33situation.
461. 26:35honestly assessing our capacity to bear
462. 26:40that harm
463. 26:42even that is going to make a lot of
464. 26:45relief amidst the stressful situation.
465. 26:49So this technique can also be tried
466. 26:54then the whole problem can be reframed.
467. 26:57We can look at it from different
468. 27:00perspectives
469. 27:01in order to gain a fresh insight which
470. 27:05can help me to solve the problem as well
471. 27:09as which can help me to manage my
472. 27:12emotions in a better way.
473. 27:17Uh I can also reappraise my stress.
474. 27:21Is it always bad to feel stressed?
475. 27:26What happens that most of the time if we
476. 27:29are overloaded you know I have many
477. 27:32things to do at home I have many things
478. 27:35to do at my workplace then my family
479. 27:39accept expects lot many things from me
480. 27:42uh my life partner has certain
481. 27:44expectation my children have certain
482. 27:46expectation my parents have many
483. 27:49expectations from me then my boss is
484. 27:51there and then everybody's there so I I
485. 27:55find myself very much stressed and
486. 27:58loaded. This is one way of looking at
487. 28:01the stress which of course makes me feel
488. 28:05sick many times you know and I try to
489. 28:08get rid of all this burden and trouble
490. 28:11and things like that. What if I try to
491. 28:15reappraise the same stress experience?
492. 28:18People expect so many things from me
493. 28:22because they find me capable of doing
494. 28:25all these things.
495. 28:27If they don't find me capable of doing
496. 28:30these things, why do they have these
497. 28:32many expectations from me? My children
498. 28:36have certain expectation. My my spouse
499. 28:39have certain expectation. My parents
500. 28:41have certain expectations. Relatives are
501. 28:44there. Then boss is there. So many
502. 28:46things they expect. Expect and expect
503. 28:48means I can do these things. I have
504. 28:52proven that I can handle and fulfill
505. 28:56their expectations successfully
506. 28:59in the past and I can do it in the
507. 29:03future as well.
508. 29:05They expect because they believe I can
509. 29:08do it. Why not me? This is called the
510. 29:12reappraisal of the stress itself.
511. 29:16If I find that everybody is trying to
512. 29:19burden me up with several roles with
513. 29:22several duties, I will have a different
514. 29:26kind of experience.
515. 29:28If I reappraise my stress experience
516. 29:32which makes me feel worth which makes me
517. 29:36feel important and meaningful for the
518. 29:40people around me my stress experience
519. 29:44will be changed immediately. So I can
520. 29:47try doing this as well.
521. 29:50Uh then
522. 29:53if I need help from professionals like
523. 29:57coaches, like counselors, like
524. 29:59therapists, they can also help me or
525. 30:02their clients by suggesting a series of
526. 30:06questions that one can ask to oneself or
527. 30:11that other person can ask
528. 30:14to uh just sort the case out. What can
529. 30:18be the questions? The questions about
530. 30:22how they are actually feeling,
531. 30:26the questions about
532. 30:29their understanding of the problem. What
533. 30:33happens that many times the objective
534. 30:36problem is something else and my
535. 30:39perception of the problem is something
536. 30:41else. And this discrepancy between the
537. 30:44objective reality and the perception of
538. 30:48the reality which I have this is going
539. 30:51to make a lot of trouble. Right? A lot
540. 30:53of stress is created due to that only.
541. 30:57This could be because of
542. 30:58miscommunication
543. 31:00or misinterpretation
544. 31:02or due to many other reasons. Huh. But
545. 31:05this happens many times. This happens
546. 31:08and this leads to significant amount of
547. 31:10stress also. So it is better to ask
548. 31:14person what is the problem the real
549. 31:18problem according to him or her and then
550. 31:21we can also ask him about their opinion
551. 31:26of this problem. Why this problem is
552. 31:29there? What can be done to sort this
553. 31:32problem out? So asking a series of
554. 31:36questions can help the client obtain
555. 31:40better understanding of the problem,
556. 31:43better understanding of themselves and
557. 31:45their
558. 31:47thought process and a better
559. 31:50understanding of the possible solution
560. 31:53of the problem. So such kind of question
561. 31:57answer session is helpful and uh once
562. 32:01learned the person can engage in the
563. 32:05exercise of selfqu questioning also
564. 32:08initially external support is required
565. 32:11which can be given by the counselor the
566. 32:14coach the uh the therapist anybody
567. 32:18whosoever is approached. So this was
568. 32:22about cognitive
569. 32:24reappraisal of the situation of the
570. 32:27problem of oneselves and of the stress
571. 32:30itself.
572. 32:32Hope the thing would be helpful for you
573. 32:36in your day-to-day life as well as for
574. 32:39your course. And here is a quick recap
575. 32:43of what we have learned so far. So we
576. 32:47have talked a lot about the appraisal
577. 32:50approach to stress reduction
578. 32:53by questioning the assumptions by
579. 32:56transforming the cognitive processes
580. 33:00uh by detaching oneself from unnecessary
581. 33:05challenges.
582. 33:07refining the aspirations
583. 33:09and recognizing the humorous side of the
584. 33:12circumstances
585. 33:14in order to foster a positive mindset.
586. 33:17We also talked about cognitive
587. 33:19restructuring, reappraisal, positive
588. 33:22thinking, self-t talk, meaning making,
589. 33:26benefit finding, refraraming,
590. 33:29decatastrophizing,
591. 33:32problem reappraisal and stress
592. 33:35reappraisal as techniques of reducing
593. 33:39distress.
594. 33:42Here are the recommended readings.
595. 33:47You can go through some more
596. 33:50as per your choice and availability of
597. 33:54resources to you.
598. 33:58A few more books are there. Uh basically
599. 34:01these books present a very comprehensive
600. 34:04discussion about the causes and
601. 34:07management of a stress. So you can get
602. 34:10many topics which in these books. Uh
603. 34:13thank you very much for your patient
604. 34:15listening. We will see each other again
605. 34:19in module 12.
606. 34:21Thank you.