Question

Identify an aspect of your friend’s personal life that she/he wants to change. As a student of psychology, think of specific ways in which you can devise a programme to help your friend modify or solve her/his problem.

Answer 1

I will suggest my friend to develop wellness cycle, i.e., a process of coping with stress effectively by focusing on behavioural, physical and emotional responses. e.g., a friend of my has moved to a new city with a new job but is extremely afraid of being all on her own as she is extremely shy and does not make friends easily.

She may either attempt to deal with this situation by remaining indoors after work, staying to herself and thus wallowing in her misery.

She may choose affective methods of coping with this stressor. Following the wellness cycle, she may select any number of health promoting lifestyle responses.

For instance, she may force herself to take initiative at work so that people will get to know her. This will help boil her self-esteem. She may use adaptive physical responses, for instance, she may start aerobic classes or run every morning. This will make her feel more energetic as well as it may give her the opportunity to meet more people with similar interests. Finally, she may engage in adaptive emotional responses like restructuring her thoughts in such a way that she reminds herself everyday that she is happy, she is friendly, and people do like her.