Stress And Coping Theory

Application of Theories of Stress and Coping to Acquired Brain Injury Recovery following an acquired brain injury is a stressful life event. In general, stress can be created in many different ways, whether as a reaction to a specific issue, the result of chronic problems, or an injury. The affected individual must overcome deficits, adapt and re-learn many skills that were not compromised prior to the brain injury along with the changing dynamics of previous relationships. The process of adjustment to acquired brain injury is often divided into a biomedical process and a psychosocial adaptation process, with psychosocial or emotional pathway being how a person perceives their circumstance and overcomes it (Brands, Wade, Stapert, Van Heugten,
(2012) reports, “The model of Lazarus and Folkman is a widely used and valuable model but it has weaknesses when applied to the adaptation process after brain injury as it offers a description and a classification of how people cope with stress but it does not provide a complete explanation (p. 842).
The theories of Stress and Coping uses self-evaluation in response to the stressful situation at hand although Brands et al. feels that it is limited when defining what mechanisms contribute to coping and how it occurs. This limitation Brands et al. (2012) feels is better accommodated by the process of adaptation that incorporates restoration and loss-oriented coping in placed of emotion and problem-focused styles as emotions and problems play simultaneously (p. 842-843). Coping is the main focus when dealing with acquired brain injury regardless of the model
is not favorable to The Theories of Stress and Coping when applied to coping with an acquired brain injury. He feels that an interactive two-dimensional approach is more effective as it allows parallel and interactive processing (Brands et al., 2012, p. 843). This article was an effective assessment for Theories of Stress and Coping although this particular application to acquired brain injury may not be best suited for the model. Situations that are focused on behaviors, that are controllable, may offer greater success when constructs of the model are