APA GRADUATE STUDENTS
APAGS HOME

JOIN APAGS

ABOUT APAGS

APAGS Leaders
APAGS Staff
Contact Us
FAQ's
Get Involved
Listservs
Scholarships and Awards

Site Map for APAGS

APAGS TOPICS
APA Convention
Advocacy
Careers
Diversity
Education
Funding
Professional Development
Student Resources
AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS
Psi Beta
Psi Chi

 

Outlier Moments

Sharon Smith
Antioch New England Graduate School

"Life is what happens while you're making other plans." -- John Lennon

Last year, just weeks before my third doctoral year began, my daughter was hospitalized out of state with first-break psychosis. Thanks to new anti-psychotics, she was quickly discharged to home--exhausted and regressed. Our community mental health center denied services, and I faced dropping out to care for her... until the researcher in me found stop-gaps I will describe shortly.

I have informally polled some peers for tips on surviving "outlier moments"--experiences outside the range of expectable student stressors. First, we sought support from friends, family, spiritual advisors, and therapists. Then we used problem-focused coping: confronting the situation and seeking practical solutions [Lazarus & Folkman, 1984].

Chris took a summer off to help her daughter, who had just had a baby, "over the protest of faculty who assumed that taking any time off equated to dropping out altogether!" Meredyth, who gave birth to a baby girl, advises "Get a LONG list of babysitters!"

While planning her wedding, Lucy kept up with academic work: "No extensions clouded our honeymoon!" But faculty willing to grant extensions were stress-reducers for Karin when her father fell ill. "The challenge was to be there for him, remain hopeful, experience my family's love... the doctorate was important but in the larger scheme of things not such a big deal."

Strengthening links to her department was key when Julian's mother fell ill while he was ABD. "My chair was understanding about slowing the pace on my dissertation: he is my age and has struggled with some of the same issues in his own life. I never stopped working--on library searches, my proposal--so I would feel as if I were making progress. He and I set mini-goals. It's easy to feel isolated and alone after course-work and internship are over."

My daughter's negative symptoms required structured, low-key activities. I reframed the situation to ask not "who can work with her?" but rather "what can she DO?" She could still play piano and flute. My practicum--which I'd been postponing day by day--was on the nursing home unit of a VA. Soon she was entertaining the vets with music on practicum days.

Unanticipated challenges happen, and "proactive coping" (Aspinwall &Taylor, 1997) can be vital. To prepare, be aware of potential (though unlikely) stressors, gather information about resources ahead of time, and if an outlier event does hit, use your clinical and research skills to appraise it, start coping, and evaluate results. "Life" and "other plans" are two sides of the same tapestry.

References

Aspinwall, L. G., Taylor, S. E. (1997). A stitch in time: Self-regulation and proactive coping. Psychological Bulletin, 121(3), 417-436.

Lazarus, R. S. Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer.

This article first appeared in the Winter 2000 Edition of the APAGS Newsletter, Vol. 12(1)

 


© 2009 American Psychological Association
American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS)
750 First Street, NE • Washington, DC • 20002-4242
Telephone: 202-336-6014 • Email
PsychNET® | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Security | Advertise with us