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Reference

1. Mindy Weisberger. “Scary Science: How people response to fear”. Life science. 2016. https://www.livescience.com/56691-the-science-of-fear.html

2. Rebecca Rubin. “Opinion: Cheating has longterm negative side effects”. The Circuit. 2012. http://www.cbhscircuit.com/?p=1296

3. Mikey D. “Escapism: Leave Your Fantasy World And Live In Reality”. Feel Happiness. 2014. http://feelhappiness.com/escapism-leave-fantasy-world-live-reality/

4. N/A. “Negative Attitude: Causes, Consequences and Cures”. Mercury. 2015. http://www.ilanelanzen.com/personaldevelopment/negative-attitude-causes-consequences-and-cures/

5. Charles J. Holahan, Rudolf H. Moos, Carole K. Holahan, Penny L. Brennan, and Kathleen K. Schutte. “Stress Generation, Avoidance Coping, and Depressive Symptoms: A 10-Year Model”. NCBI. 2011. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3035563/

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To put all in to a nut shell, it is clear that escaping from fear will has a high possibility to cause constant fear, negative emotions and attitudes, and depression. After a student escaping from a test, he or she may afraid to face to any test any more; after a person escape from a challenge, he or she will feel regret in a long time; after a person escaping from stress, what waits him will be more pressure and depression.  Hence, it is extremely significant for people to realize the effects and results of escaping, which many people may choose to do as they meet fear, or something they are afraid of. To avoid of hurting from feat and to earn yourselves a better future, you have to consider sophisticatedly how to deal with your fear.

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The last but not the least, depression is a typical result caused by escaping fear. Some people tried to use escapism as a mean to deal with their fear; however, it always do not working very well. Actually, this concept was proved by plenty of evidences. For example, in a ten years period study, researches collected the data of how the observation samples deal with their fear or stress, and the level of depression. In the forth year, it was obvious that avoidance (escapism) associated with higher mental depression (Charles, Rudolf, Carole, Penny, and Kathleen,  2011). Obviously, this study prefect illustrated and proved the relationship between escaping and depression. As a people choose to reduce their fear and stress by escaping that, the result will most likely to be depression moods and depression futures.

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Stress Generation, Avoidance Coping, and Depressive Symptoms: A 10-Year Model 2011

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Stress Generation, Avoidance Coping, and Depressive Symptoms: A 10-Year Model 2011

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Abstract

This study examined (a) the role of avoidance coping in prospectively generating both chronic and acute life stressors and (b) the stress-generating role of avoidance coping as a prospective link to future depressive symptoms. Participants were 1,211 late-middle-aged individuals (500 women and 711 men) assessed 3 times over a 10-year period. As predicted, baseline avoidance coping was prospectively associated with both more chronic and more acute life stressors 4 years later. Furthermore, as predicted, these intervening life stressors linked baseline avoidance coping and depressive symptoms 10 years later, controlling for the influence of initial depressive symptoms. These findings broaden knowledge about the stress-generation process and elucidate a key mechanism through which avoidance coping is linked to depressive symptoms.

Keywords: life stressors, stress generation, coping strategies, avoidance coping, depressive symptoms

Two cardinal assumptions guided early stress research: The stress process is initiated by life stressors, and these stressors cause psychological and physical distress. Contemporary research has provided a more refined understanding of the stress process and a revision of both of these assumptions. Research on stress generation has revealed that the stressor-illness relationship can operate in both directions, with emotional distress producing new stressors (for a review, see Hammen, 1999). Moreover, an extensive body of research has identified the central role of coping strategies in individuals' differential vulnerability to life stressors (for a review, see Holahan, Moos, & Bonin, 1999). Surprisingly, these ideas about the role of stress generation and coping strategies in the stress process have evolved independently. The purpose of this study was to integrate the stress-generation and coping perspectives to test a prospective model of depressive symptoms over a 10-year period.

In an important revision of traditional stress models, Hammen (1991) proposed that depressed individuals, through their depression and related behaviors, generate life stressors, which, in turn, increase subsequent depressive symptomatology. Hammen found that unipolar depressed women generated more interpersonal life stressors across a 1-year period than did control groups of bipolar, medically ill, and healthy individuals. Later research extended the stress-generation model to depressed late-adolescent women ( Daley et al., 1997) and clinic-referred youngsters ( Rudolph et al., 2000) and, in nonclinical samples, to children of depressed women ( Adrian & Hammen, 1993; Hammen, Shih, & Brennan, 2004), wives in newlywed couples ( Davila, Bradbury, Cohan, & Tochluk, 1997), and college students ( Potthoff, Holahan, & Joiner, 1995). An association between depression and subsequent stressors has been identified for both acute events ( Cui & Vaillant, 1997; Hammen, 1991; Potthoff et al., 1995) and chronic strains ( Davila et al., 1997; Russell & Cutrona, 1991).

Hammen (1992) suggested that stress generation involves associated behavioral styles; however, the nature of such behaviors was unspecified. Later research by Davila, Hammen, Burge, Paley, and Daley (1995) focusing on women high school seniors implicated poor interpersonal problem solving in stress generation. In a three-wave prospective model, Davila et al. found that a combination of acute and chronic interpersonal stressors at 6 months fully mediated the association between baseline interpersonal problem solving and depressive symptoms a year later. Independently, stressors at 6 months partially mediated the association between baseline depressive symptoms and depressive symptoms at 1 year.

Consistent with Hammen's (1992) belief that stress generation involves associated behavioral styles and extending Davila et al.'s (1995) findings on poor interpersonal problem solving and stress generation, we speculated that avoidance coping might play a key role in stress generation. There is some evidence that poor interpersonal problem solving and less effective coping strategies are positively related ( Nezu & Carnevale, 1987). Avoidance coping involves cognitive and behavioral efforts oriented toward denying, minimizing, or otherwise avoiding dealing directly with stressful demands and is closely linked to distress and depression ( Cronkite & Moos, 1995; Penley, Tomaka, & Wiebe, 2002). Although the potential stress-generating role of avoidance coping has not been examined previously, reliance on avoidance coping seems especially likely to generate a broad range of stressors. For example, cognitive avoidance may permit incipient stressors, such as financial or health problems, to fester and grow. Behavioral avoidance may actively promote new stressors, such as when emotional discharge aggravates strains in family or work relationships.

The strongest and most consistent associations between coping efforts and emotional distress involve avoidance coping, which is generally linked to more depressive symptoms ( Holahan, Moos, & Bonin, 1999). For example, reliance on avoidance coping has been linked to increased depressive symptoms among community adults ( Blalock & Joiner, 2000; Marchand & Hock, 2003), college students ( Penland, Masten, Zelhart, Fournet, & Callahan, 2000), older adults ( Powers, Gallagher-Thompson, & Kraemer, 2002), and cardiac patients ( Holahan, Moos, Holahan, & Brennan, 1997). Reliance on avoidance-coping efforts has also been linked to relapse among individuals treated for clinical depression ( Cronkite, Moos, Twohey, Cohen, & Swindle, 1998; Sherbourne, Hays, & Wells, 1995) and alcohol abuse ( Chung, Langenbucher, Labouvie, Pandina, & Moos, 2001). Despite the consistency of these findings, the mechanisms through which avoidance coping is linked to emotional distress are not known. The potential role of avoidance coping in generating new stressors suggests a key path through which avoidant strategies may predict depressive symptoms.

The Present Study

The purpose of this study was to test over a 10-year period a model of depressive symptoms integrating coping ( Holahan, Moos, & Bonin, 1999) and stress-generation ( Hammen, 1999) models of depression. Specifically, the study addressed (a) the role of avoidance coping in prospectively generating both chronic and acute life stressors and (b) the stress-generating role of avoidance coping as a prospective link to future depressive symptoms. We examined these issues in a sample of 1,211 late-middle-aged women and men assessed three times over a 10-year period.

A strength of the present study is that it extends stress-generation research, which has generally involved younger persons (e.g., Adrian & Hammen, 1993; Daley et al., 1997; Davila et al., 1997; Potthoff et al., 1995; Rudolph et al., 2000), to a late-middle-aged sample. The growing aging population in the United States has made depression among older persons a key mental health concern, with clinical psychologists focusing increasingly on the etiology ( Gatz, 2000) and treatment ( Karel, Ogland-Hand, Gatz, & Unuetzer, 2002) of later-life depression. The multiple waves of data and long time interval provided a unique opportunity to view the temporal unfolding of the stress-generation process (also see Chun, Cronkite, & Moos, 2004). Representation of both women and men in the sample allowed us to broaden the stress-generation model beyond the traditional focus on women ( Daley et al., 1997; Davila et al., 1997; Hammen, 1991).

The present study is part of a longitudinal project on an initial sample of 1,884 late-middle-aged individuals. Previous research with this sample has examined the emergence and course of late-life drinking ( Moos, Brennan, & Moos, 1991; Schutte, Brennan, & Moos, 1994, 1998; Schutte, Byrne, Brennan, & Moos, 2001) and adjustment to cardiac illness ( Holahan et al., 1997).

Integrating previous research on avoidance coping ( Chung et al., 2001; Cronkite et al., 1998; Sherbourne et al., 1995) and stress generation ( Adrian & Hammen, 1993; Daley et al., 1997; Hammen, 1991), we first predicted that baseline avoidance coping would be prospectively associated with both more chronic and more acute life stressors 4 years later. Second, extending Davila et al.'s (1995) findings on interpersonal problem solving and stress generation, we predicted that the prospective association between baseline avoidance coping and depressive symptoms 10 years later would operate through intervening life stressors at 4 years. This second prediction was tested in an integrative structural equation model that included a measurement model for avoidance coping, life stressors, and depressive symptoms latent constructs (see ).

Method

Sample Selection and Characteristics

The sample at baseline included individuals between the ages of 55 and 65 years who had had contact with one of two medical health care facilities as outpatients within the previous 3 years for a wide variety of reasons, including minor health concerns. Participants were a representative sample of individuals seeking health services and were not selected because of any specific physical or mental health problems. The sample is comparable to similarly aged community samples with respect to health characteristics such as prevalence of chronic illness and hospitalization (for additional information on the full sample, see Brennan & Moos, 1990). Psychosocial and physical health data were obtained from self-report inventories at baseline and at 4-year and 10-year follow-ups. The study was approved by the Stanford University Medical School Panel on Human Subjects; after the project was fully explained, participants provided written signed consent. Of eligible respondents contacted, 92% agreed to participate in the survey, and 89% (1,884) of these individuals provided complete data at baseline. The participation rate for respondents who were living was 95% (1,620 participants) at the 4-year follow-up and 93% (1,291 participants) at the 10-year follow-up.

A total of 1,211 respondents provided complete data on all variables used here across the 10-year period; these individuals constituted the present sample. The present sample included 500 (41%) women and 711 (59%) men. At initial assessment, the present sample was an average of 61 years of age ( SD = 3.20) with an average of 14 years of education ( SD = 2.33). The sample was predominantly Caucasian (92%), with the remainder of the sample African American (3%), Hispanic (2%), Asian American (1%), Native American (1%), and other ethnic backgrounds (1%).

Measures

In addition to sociodemographic data, the database included information on avoidance-coping strategies, life stressors, and depressive symptoms. All of the self-report indices were designed for survey research with community samples. The indices have strong psychometric properties and are associated with one another and with psychological adjustment in expected ways. Descriptive and psychometric information on the measures is available in the following sources: (a) Coping Responses Inventory (CRI; Moos, 1993) for the avoidance-coping strategies measures, (b) Life Stressors and Social Resources Inventory (LISRES; Moos & Moos, 1994) for the life stressors measures, and (c) Health and Daily Living Form (HDL; Moos, Cronkite, & Finney, 1992) for the depressive symptoms measures.

Results

Formulation of the LISREL Model

We tested the study hypotheses in structural equation models using LISREL 8 ( Jöreskog & Sörbom, 2001). Consistent with recent recommendations concerning mediational models with longitudinal data (see Cole & Maxwell, 2003; Loehlin, 2004), the primary analyses used latent variable modeling. The hypothesized mediational model includes four latent variables. An exogenous variable for baseline avoidance coping was measured by two indicators (cognitive avoidance and emotional discharge). A second exogenous variable, baseline depressive symptoms, was measured with two indicators (depressed mood and depressive features). Baseline depressive symptoms were included in the model to control for the stable component in depressive symptoms in predicting subsequent life stressors and depressive symptoms. Baseline avoidance coping and baseline depressive symptoms were assumed to have a positive bidirectional relationship. An endogenous variable, 4-year life stressors, was measured with two indicators (chronic and acute stressors) and was included in the model as a mediator between both avoidance coping and depressive symptoms at baseline and subsequent depressive symptoms at 10 years. A second endogenous variable, 10-year depressive symptoms, was measured with two indicators (depressed mood and depressive features) and was included as an outcome variable.

To provide a metric for the latent constructs and to identify the measurement model, we set the first indicator loading for each latent construct to 1.0 in the unstandardized solution. The measurement model was examined before each structural model was tested. For all models, the measurement model showed a good fit to the data, and construct loadings were significant at the .01 level. Several standard assumptions related to time-lagged measures were included in the models (e.g., see Holahan & Moos, 1991; Holahan, Moos, Holahan, & Cronkite, 2000). We assumed that the factor loadings in the measurement model were identical for depressive symptoms across the two measurement times. In addition, we assumed that the unique variances for the two measures of depressed mood would be correlated across measurement times and that the unique variances for the two measures of depressive features would be correlated across measurement times. Variance-covariance matrices were used in the LISREL analyses. Zero-order correlations, means, and standard deviations for the full set of study variables are presented in . Listwise deletion of missing values was used, with an N of 1,211 across all analyses.

Preliminary Analyses

Integrative Structural Equation Model

Discussion

This study tested a 10-year model of depressive symptoms that integrates coping ( Holahan, Moos, & Bonin, 1999) and stress-generation ( Hammen, 1999) models of depression. As predicted, baseline avoidance coping was prospectively associated with more life stressors 4 years later. Furthermore, as predicted, these intervening life stressors linked baseline avoidance coping and depressive symptoms 10 years later, controlling for the influence of initial depressive symptoms.

Baseline avoidance coping was prospectively associated with both more chronic and more acute life stressors 4 years later. This finding extends previous research on depression and stress generation ( Adrian & Hammen, 1993; Daley et al., 1997; Davila et al., 1997; Hammen, 1991) to encompass the role of avoidance-coping strategies in generating life stressors. Moreover, consistent with previous research that has documented stress generation with both acute life events ( Cui & Vaillant, 1997; Hammen, 1991; Potthoff et al., 1995) and chronic strains ( Davila et al., 1997; Russell & Cutrona, 1991), we found that avoidance coping prospectively predicted both chronic and acute stressors.

In an integrative structural equation model, the prospective association between baseline avoidance coping and depressive symptoms 10 years later operated through intervening life stressors at 4 years. The life stressor measure presumably tapped a general, enduring pattern of stress, with life stressors at 4 years linked over time to subsequent stressors and associated depressive reactions. Especially important, these associations controlled for the influence of initial depressive symptoms, which were independently related to follow-up depressive symptoms both directly and indirectly through 4-year life stressors. Moreover, additional analyses controlling for the influence of baseline stressors demonstrated that part of the predictive link between avoidance coping and subsequent depressive symptoms operated through new stressors at 4 years.

The finding that coping strategies and depressive symptoms independently predicted subsequent depressive symptoms through intervening life stressors replicates Davila et al.'s (1995) 1-year model of stress generation in the context of interpersonal problem solving. In addition, the present findings are consistent with an interpretation that depressive symptoms operate partially through avoidance coping in predicting subsequent life stressors. This finding extends previous research by Davila et al., who did not find a significant association between initial depressive symptoms and interpersonal problem solving.

Although previous research on stress generation has focused on women (see Adrian & Hammen, 1993; Daley et al., 1997; Davila et al., 1997; Hammen, 1991), the present findings extend this perspective to men, modeling both similarities and differences in stress generation between women and men. We found that intervening life stressors completely explained the link between baseline avoidance coping and depressive symptoms at 10 years among men and partially explained the link between baseline avoidance coping and follow-up depressive symptoms among women. The additional direct path between avoidance coping and subsequent depressive symptoms for women suggests that, for women, avoidance coping may be linked to future depressive symptoms in an internal way as well as externally through life stressors. The internal route between avoidance coping and future depressive symptoms among women may reflect the role of rumination (see Nolen-Hoeksema, 1998; Nolen-Hoeksema, Morrow, & Fredrickson, 1993). By definition, rumination is a passive coping strategy. Furthermore, rumination is more common among women than men and is linked to stronger and more persistent depressive symptoms.

Hammen and her associates ( Davila et al., 1995; Hammen, 1991, 1992) have underscored the need to identify specific behaviors associated with stress generation. Our results elucidate part of what depressed persons are doing that promotes life stressors. Depressive symptoms are associated with a reliance on avoidant coping strategies, and the use of avoidance coping creates a route to subsequent chronic and acute stressors. The 10-year time frame allowed us to view the unfolding of the stress-generation process over a longer interval than has been possible in most previous research on stress generation, which has typically been limited to 1 year (see Daley et al., 1997; Davila et al., 1997; Hammen, 1991). Our findings and those of a recent study by Chun et al. (2004), which found evidence of stress generation in the context of depression for up to 10 years, demonstrate that, once set in motion, stress generation may be remarkably enduring.

More broadly, the present findings help to explain both the endurance of depression and the tendency for depression to spread among family members. Many depressed patients relapse after treatment, and recurrent depression remains a significant clinical concern ( Angst, Gamma, Sellaro, Lavori, & Zhang, 2003; Kanai, Yhoshimura, Imaizumji, Kitamura, & Takahashi, 2003). Stress generation links depressive reactions over time. Moreover, accumulating evidence demonstrates that depression can be contagious, spreading between spouses ( Benazon & Coyne, 2000) and between parents and children ( Goodman & Gotlib, 2002). Because many life stressors are experienced at a family level, stress generation also links depressive reactions among family members (see Adrian & Hammen, 1993; Davila et al., 1997; Hammen et al., 2004).

These findings also contribute to understanding the coping process. Despite the consistency of evidence that avoidance coping is linked to psychological distress among diverse community ( Blalock & Joiner, 2000; Penland et al., 2000) and clinical ( Cronkite et al., 1998; Sherbourne et al., 1995) samples, the mechanisms through which avoidance coping is linked to emotional distress are unknown. The stress-generating role of avoidance coping identifies a key path by which these coping strategies are linked to psychological distress. From a preventive perspective, this finding reinforces Aspinwall and Taylor's (1997) call for research on proactive coping. Active, future-directed coping efforts may operate as a positive analog of the present model, reducing future stressors and, indirectly, protecting against subsequent depressive reactions.

Some limitations should be noted in interpreting these results. Self-report measures are subject to both social desirability and common method variance. Future research is needed to extend our findings to include objective indexes of coping efforts, life stressors, and psychological functioning. In addition, the internal consistency of the measures of avoidance coping is relatively low. Although this concern has been reduced by the use of latent variable modeling, the present models may underestimate the role of avoidance coping in stress generation. Although coping measures that are anchored on a specific salient stressor show moderate temporal and cross-situation stability ( Moos, 2004; Moos et al., 2004; Powers et al., 2002), they also reflect some situational variability and therefore may underestimate the role of more general avoidance-coping strategies in stress generation.

Furthermore, in generalizing the present findings, it should be emphasized that they pertain to milder levels of depressive symptoms. Consistent with previous work on depressive symptoms among older adults (see Kasl-Godley, Gatz, & Fiske, 1998), we found that the present sample showed a level of depressive symptoms comparable to that in younger community samples (see Holahan, Moos, et al., 1999). However, we also found a wide range in depressive symptoms among these older adults, with 5% of individuals reporting a level of depressive symptoms above the median of a clinically depressed sample entering treatment and 19% of individuals reporting a level of depressive symptoms above the median of a clinically depressed sample 1 year after entering treatment ( Holahan et al., 2000). Generalizabililty of the present findings is also limited by our use of a late-middle-aged sample of individuals who were seeking outpatient health services. Future research is needed to extend the present findings on avoidance coping and stress generation to clinically depressed individuals, as well as to samples that are more representative with respect to age, ethnicity, and health status.

Davila et al. (1995) have argued that the stress-generation perspective does not blame depressed individuals for their problems. Likewise, we do not blame depressed individuals for relying on avoidance coping. Impoverished psychosocial resources, rather than a weakness in resolve, typically underlie maladaptive coping choices ( Holahan, Moos, & Bonin, 1999). A fuller understanding of the coping process can help to identify points of intervention, including formal and informal sources of social support, that can enhance coping efforts and promote a sense of mastery among depressed individuals, who often feel powerless in the face of life's mounting obstacles.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by National Institute on Aging Grant AG19026, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Grant AA12718, and Department of Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development Service funds. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Brent Kenney in library research, John Loehlin in advising on the LISREL analyses, and Caryn Carlson in establishing reliability for the stressor coding.

Footnotes

¹ To examine the reliability of our initial coding of dependent and independent stressors, a research psychologist who was not involved in the present study independently coded the stressors. Agreement between our initial coding and that of the independent rater was 100%.

² Each of these assumptions was systematically examined. The assumption that the unique variances for the two measures of depressive features would be correlated across measurement times resulted in a nonsignificant improvement in model fit and was not retained.

³We also examined baseline cognitive avoidance and emotional discharge separately as predictors in multiple regression analyses. Both components of avoidance coping were significantly ( p < .05) associated with both chronic and acute stressors at 4 years in longitudinal analyses and in prospective analyses that controlled for the corresponding outcome variable at baseline.

⁴ On the basis of examination of the modification indices, we included parameters reflecting correlation between the unique variances for the measure of Time 1 depressed mood and the measures of both Time 1 cognitive avoidance and emotional discharge in the model. Including these two parameters in the model significantly improved overall model fit without altering the significance of any paths in the measurement or structural models.

⁵Consistent with previous research on stress generation ( Chun et al., 2004; Cui & Vaillant, 1997; Daley et al., 1997; Hammen, 1991; Harkness & Luther, 2001; Rudolph et al., 2000), if this model were tested with independent stressors, the path from avoidance coping to subsequent stressors would not be significant ( β = .09), t(1211) = 0.75, p > .10, and removing it from the full model would result in a nonsignificant change in model fit, χ ²(1, N = 1211) = 0.37, p > .50.

⁶ When we controlled for the influence of baseline life stressors throughout the model, the model continued to provide a good fit to the data, and all hypothesized parameters in the structural model, although attenuated, remained significant at the .05 level.

⁷Allowing all other parameters in the structural model to differ between groups did not further improve the model, χ ²(4, N = 1211) = 3.08, p > .50. Similarly, allowing the measurement model to differ between groups did not further improve the model, χ ²(3, N = 1211) = 1.63, p > .50.

Contributor Information

Charles J. Holahan, Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin.

Rudolf H. Moos, Center for Health Care Evaluation, Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Palo Alto, California, and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University.

Carole K. Holahan, Department of Kinesiology and Health Education, University of Texas at Austin.

Penny L. Brennan, Center for Health Care Evaluation, Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Palo Alto, California.

Kathleen K. Schutte, Center for Health Care Evaluation, Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Palo Alto, California.

References

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Chun CA, Cronkite RC, Moos RH. Stress generation in depressed patients and community controls. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. 2004;23:390-412.

Cronkite RC, Moos RH. Life context, coping processes, and depression. In: Beckham EE, Leber WR, editors. Handbook of depression. 2. New York: Guilford Press; 1995. pp. 569-587.

Gatz M. Variations on depression in later life. In: Qualls SH, Abeles N, editors. Psychology and the aging revolution: How we adapt to longer life. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association; 2000. pp. 239-254.

Goodman SH, Gotlib IH, editors. Children of depressed parents: Mechanisms of risk and implications for treatment. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association; 2002.

Hammen C. The emergence of an interpersonal approach to depression. In: Joiner T, Coyne J, editors. The interactional nature of depression: Advances in interpersonal approaches. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association; 1999. pp. 21-35.

Holahan CJ, Moos RH, Bonin L. Social context and depression: An integrative stress and coping framework. In: Joiner T, Coyne J, editors. The interactional nature of depression: Advances in interpersonal approaches. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association; 1999. pp. 39-63.

Jöreskog KG, Sörbom D. LISREL 8: User's reference guide. Chicago: Scientific Software International; 2001.

Karel MJ, Ogland-Hand S, Gatz M, Unuetzer J. Assessing and treating late-life depression: A casebook and resource guide. New York: Basic Books; 2002.

Kasl-Godley JE, Gatz M, Fiske A. Depression and depressive symptoms in old age. In: Nordhus IH, VandenBos GR, Berg S, editors. Clinical geropsychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association; 1998. pp. 211-217.

Loehlin JC. Latent variable models: An introduction to factor, path, and structural equation analysis. 4. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum; 2004.

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Moos RH. Coping Responses Inventory: An update on research applications and validity. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources; 2004.

Moos RH, Brennan PL, Schutte KK, Moos BS. Older adults coping with negative life events: Common processes of managing health, interpersonal, and financial/work stressors. 2004. Manuscript submitted for publication. [PMC free article]

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Moos RH, Moos BS. Life Stressors and Social Resources Inventory: Adult Form manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources; 1994.

Moos RH, Schaefer JA. Coping resources and processes: Current concepts and measures. In: Goldberger L, Breznitz S, editors. Handbook of stress: Theoretical and clinical aspects. 2. New York: Free Press; 1993. pp. 234-257.

Nolen-Hoeksema S. Ruminative coping with depression. In: Heckhausen J, Dweck CS, editors. Motivation and self-regulation across the life span. New York: Cambridge University Press; 1998. pp. 237-256.

Penland E, Masten WG, Zelhart P, Fournet GP, Callahan TA. Possible selves, depression, and coping skills in university students. Personality and Individual Differences. 2000;29:963-969.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Stress Generation, Avoidance Coping, and Depressive Symptoms: A 10-Year Model

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This study examined (a) the role of avoidance coping in prospectively generating both chronic and acute life stressors and (b) the stress-generating role of avoidance coping as a prospective link to future depressive symptoms. Participants were 1,211 late-middle-aged individuals (500 women and 711 men) assessed 3 times over a 10-year period.

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Further more, escaping from fear is a one of the biggest reasons causing negative attitude. A positive way of defeat fear is facing it; however, most of the people will choose escaping that. As a result, psychological problems will occur. Based on researches, negative attitudes especially doubt and regretful will be caused by escaping fear.  To be specific, after a person escaping from what him or her afraid of, he or her will start doubt why the problems cannot be solved by himself or herself. Later on, they will have a big possibility to regret their behaviors of escaping problems and fear. However, these negative attitudes almost never help them to face to problems next time, but reduce their confidences (Mercury, 2015). Based on the result of this research, there is no doubt that escaping will cause additional problems with people's confidence. Also, these harmful issues caused by negative attitude and emotion will be hard to fixed.

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"The Difference Between Medicine and Poison is in the Dose" by Circa Survive

"Did you ever wish you were somebody else?" This line from one of my all time favorite songs is one that I think most people would have to answer with a "yes".

Who hasn't, at one point or another, wished they had the badass martial arts skills of Bruce Lee, or the incredible panty-dropping charm of Californication's Hank Moody?

It is a wonderful thing to have role models, and to emulate others in order to achieve similar results. That's just smart.

But it is another thing entirely to want to be somebody else. There is a fundamental distinction between wishing to have certain qualities of another person and wishing to actually be that other person.

This desire to be another person is a form of escapism, which is a very unhealthy way of coping with the challenges in your life. The caricature of an unpopular nerd, heavily addicted to role-playing games, is a perfect example of this. Picture the character Augie from David Wain's brilliant and hilarious film "Role Models".

But you need not be that far removed to experience the negative effects of shrinking away from reality. Escapism, or withdrawing from the pressures of the real world into a safer fantasy world, is pervasive in our culture. It comes in many forms, some rather subtle, and prevents us from doing what we need to do to improve the circumstances of our real lives.

Why We Construct a Fantasy World

The ultimate "goal" of escapism is the destruction of "self". If you have an aspect of your life that you want to escape from, your fantasies act as a means of dissociating your mind from the "you" that possesses these qualities. With enough repetition, you come to view yourself as a totally separate entity from the one that has these negative traits or circumstances. Only in rare instances does it get so extreme, but partial destruction of the "self" and dissociation are quite common.

When we practice escapism, we are trying to avoid "spending time" with ourselves. Rather than engage in healthy introspection or meaningful social interaction, we occupy ourselves endlessly with Facebook, television, email, video games, gambling, drugs and alcohol, and so on. In fact, individuals have been shown to watch TV when they have a lower "need for cognition", or, in other words, to prevent them from thinking ¹. Escapism is the opposite of mindfulness.

Escapism allows us to numb ourselves to a reality that we do not want to accept. For example, this "actual-ideal self-discrepancy" predicts pathological gaming, where the gamer can pretend to be somebody else ². It allows us to avoid feelings of shame or emotional pain. By imagining ourselves as someone who doesn't have the constraints that we do, or who possesses something that we lack, we can "experience" that life without having to do the work (and have the luck) necessary to achieve it.

For most people, these fantasies are localized to one or a few specific areas, as opposed to fantasies of being an entirely different person. For men, a common fantasy realm is that where their success with women is far greater than it is in real life. They imagine themselves as being able to get any woman they want (excessive porn use likely reinforces this fantasy), so the dearth of romance in their life doesn't hurt as much.

Escapism is a way of attempting to negate our personal responsibility and to avoid the discomfort of existential angst that we all must deal with. We are ultimately responsible for all the decisions that we make and the actions that we take, but living in a fantasy world is a way of absolving ourselves of the consequences of our actions. To the escape artist, "real life" is no longer their problem.

Why You Must Return To Reality

It should be obvious by now that a tendency to retreat into fantasy is going to have negative effects on you. But what are these effects?

Mood and Depression

First and foremost, people who use escapism as a coping strategy tend to be more depressed. This is hardly surprising. There is plenty of evidence that avoidant (escapist) coping methods are associated with depression, but which causes which?

In a ten year prospective study, researchers found that baseline avoidance coping was prospectively associated with higher life stress (both acute and chronic) at year four, and that these life stressors linked baseline avoidance coping with depressive symptoms at year ten ³. The way you deal with stress has an impact on how much stress you have, and this higher stress can cause depression.

A study on adolescents found that those who employed avoidant coping strategies (as opposed to "approach oriented" coping) reported the highest levels of depressive symptoms up to two years later ⁴. Avoidant coping is also a predictor of psychological distress in elderly individuals ⁵.

Additionally, certain escapist behaviors have been linked to depression. In particular, technology use. In a large survey of Korean internet users, overuse of the internet was associated with depression, loneliness, and compulsiveness ⁶. And considering how an estimated 5-10% of Americans are internet addicts, this is a huge problem. Many of these addicts, when surveyed, said that they use the internet to avoid reality, and were significantly more likely to use the internet in response to feelings of sadness or depression. Interestingly, internet addicts tend to engage in interactive services online (gaming, participating in forums, etc.) in order to compensate for their lack of interpersonal interaction in reality. Contrast this with non-addicts, who were far more likely to meet up with real people in response to sadness.

But it's not just the internet. Information and communication technology in general is associated with higher levels of stress and depression in college students ⁷. Television exposure and total media exposure in adolescence are associated with increased odds of depressive symptoms in young adulthood, especially in young men ⁸. And, for adolescents, use of role-playing games is predictive of internalizing problem behaviors such as anxiety or social withdrawal ⁹.

It seems reasonable that there is some psychic cost to living outside of reality. The use of escapist/avoidant coping, including the excessive withdrawal into technology, is a recipe for negative feelings and disconnection from others.

Social Costs of Escapism

Habitual escapism will alienate you from your friends, family, and others in general. And because having meaningful relationships is probably the most important factor in your happiness and ability to handle life's challenges, the findings from the previous section make perfect sense.

It is beyond the scope of this post to delve into the details of how a rich social life is beneficial, but surely you don't need me to tell you that it is important. And interacting with people face-to-face is significantly better than having virtual relationships online. In fact, having more internet relationships is associated with higher levels of emotional loneliness than having face-to-face relationships ¹⁰.

If you were to do your own research on this, you would find that, paradoxically, using the internet to communicate with friends and family is also associated with lower levels of depression ¹¹. I think this can be explained by how you feel the need to communicate. If the internet is used as a supplement to face-to-face relationships, it is okay. But if you are using the internet to further practice escapism and replace your in-person relationships, then it is bad. In fact, there is some evidence that when extroverts use the internet for communication, it is more beneficial than when introverts do ¹².

Escapism Makes You Stagnate

Quite simply, you cannot achieve your goals while living in a fantasy world. If you want to improve in this life, you will need to experience discomfort. That is the only way to expand your comfort zone. But the purpose of escapism, of the fantasy, is to avoid even thinking about your comfort zone entirely.

A common theme you have heard me mention (and that any good personal development website would mention) is that in order to progress in any area of your life, you must take action. But the more time you spend inside of the fantasy world in your mind, the less motivation you have to do anything about your "real" life.

Take the guy who fantasizes about being successful with women. He feels scarcity in his romantic life, so he retreats into the far more comfortable world in his mind where he is like a James Bond protégé. Whenever he is in that world, he feels okay, and that gnawing lack no longer has the power to motivate him. You can imagine how this fantasy becomes addictive and highly self-reinforcing; spending time in la-la-land is hardly attractive to the opposite sex. Individuals who have positive fantasies but negative expectations of success tend to fail.

Back to Reality, oh, There Goes Gravity

I would consider escapism a form of behavioral addiction. In fact, many of the escapist "methods" are indeed addictions, including gambling and overuse of the internet.

Addictions can be tough to break, particularly when there is an emotional component behind them. It's not merely "being addicted to a fantasy", but the challenge of getting over the reasons why you've constructed that fantasy in the first place. Breaking the habit/addiction is only so effective when you still have something you're running from; more likely than not, without dealing with the underlying issue, you will merely shift to another escapist behavior or fantasy.

With that out of the way, how can you best return to reality after being stuck in a fantasy world for so long?

Laying the Groundwork

First things first, you'll need to do some self-analysis and figure out what it is you are fleeing from. In some cases this will be far easier than others. For the man who fantasizes about being a stud, the answer may be fairly obvious. But for the guy who is a gambling addict, the form of escapism is likely less related to its function.

Most people will not need any major degree of psychoanalysis for this. But it can be helpful to sit down with a pad and paper and answer a few questions. In what situations do you typically engage in your escapist behavior? Is there a specific feeling or mood that triggers it? What is it that you enjoy about your fantasy? What is it you feel as you "return" from it?

Beyond this self-understanding, there are two other, more long-term strategies to help break you out of your fantasy world. Readers of this blog will not be surprised to hear me mention self-acceptance and gratitude. But they really are that important that I need to mention them over and over.

Most of the time, living in a fantasy world is a product of believing that you have some sort of flaw. If this is the root cause, you'll need to GET OVER IT. That's the only long-term solution. Yes, it's easier said than done. Yes, it's a totally different topic, and one that you'll need to look into on your own (but this site has some resources that can help, including the link above). But any way you spin it, you'll need to accept yourself, despite whatever perceived flaws you may have.

Practicing gratitude is one of the best ways you can get to that level of self-acceptance. Keep a gratitude journal, or at least make a conscious effort to add some gratitude practice to your daily life. It reminds you of the good in life and crowds out thoughts about whatever may be lacking. You can even "target" your gratitude; the guy with the stud fantasy can be grateful that he lives in a world with so many beautiful women. When you cultivate an abundance mentality, the need for a fantasy world simply dissolves.

Short-Term Strategies and Tactics

That's all well and good in the long term, but you do need some tactics to help you short-circuit you natural response to dive into your escapist fantasy world. The techniques in this section will help you do this, but without the fundamentals above, you will never fully "recover".

I firmly believe that electronic media are one of the prime escapist outlets used by the majority of people. If you can't seem to spend time away from your phone, the internet, video games, tv, etc., it would be worth your while to try it. Even for just a day. Hell, I lived phoneless in a foreign country for five months.

It's so easy to use electronics in order to stop yourself from thinking, or to numb yourself from whatever is going on in your life. A media fast can be a shock to your system, but, like a regular fast, has a cleansing effect. Afraid of missing out on whatever your friends are doing? Chances are, you'll get along fine.

Even if you don't go to the extreme of eliminating all electronic usage for a period of time, you can certainly limit it, particularly problem areas. For many people, that would be mindlessly surfing the web, playing video games, or binging on Netflix. I'm a news junkie, and taking a week off from reading the news every once in a while is incredibly helpful for me. In fact, I ought to do that this week.

Since escapism is just a specific form of "not living in the now", bringing yourself back to the present as often as possible is an important tactic. Again, easier said than done. But there are things you can do, like taking up meditation, even for only five or ten minutes a day. Or set an alarm on your phone every hour as a reminder to take ten deep breaths and focus on the present. These are rather easy things to do...you just need to do them.

The final tactic for this section can seem useless or downright silly, but practicing it consciously is surprisingly beneficial. You should regularly do something, even trivial, to manipulate your environment. This functions as a reminder that you have control. You are not, in fact, living in a dream, but rather reality. A reality that you have control over, even if it is in some trivial way. A good example of this would be to move the salt shaker just a little bit when sitting down at a table in a restaurant.

Conclusion

According to video game designer Jane McGonigal, there are 500 million people alive today who've logged at least 10,000 hours in game worlds, and that number is growing rapidly [EDIT: I'm not quite sure how she arrived at that number, and Greg pointed out in the comments how ridiculous it sounds. Take this statistic with a grain of salt.].

Society is becoming increasingly escapist, and I believe this is leading to a surge in psychological issues. Perhaps that could explain the recent incident where two 12-year old girls from Wisconsin stabbed their classmate 19 times as a tribute to the fictional horror meme Slender Man.

This isn't to say that fantasy will turn you into a homicidal maniac, or even that all fantasy is bad. On the contrary, there is such a thing as a healthy fantasy world; it's just harder to come by.

For it to be healthy, you must be accessing these fantasy worlds with a positive intention and from a place of emotional security, rather than as an attempt to escape reality. The intention is key. If you are merely trying to make negative feelings go away, and you do it reflexively, you are practicing escapism. If you use fantasy as an occasional means of taking a mental break from the stressors of life, that is fine. And even better, if you use it to explore your imagination, you can gain access to a wider range of ideas and possible solutions to issues you may be having than you would by strictly adhering to reality.

Ultimately, it comes down to your mindset. If you are running away from reality, you will suffer the consequences. But if you are accessing another world in order to gain some insights to bring back to reality, you will profit.
Footnotes:
1. http://www.berndhenning.de/joc-nfc.pdf

2. http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/cyber.2010.0463

3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3035563/

4. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1026440304695

5. http://journals.lww.com/jonmd/Abstract/1990/08000/Avoidant_Coping_Predicts_Psychological_Disturbance.10.aspx

6. http://69.164.208.4/files/Internet%20Over-Users'%20Psychological%20Profiles-%20A%20Behavior%20Sampling%20Analysis%20on%20Internet%20Addiction.pdf

7. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563204002250

8. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3004674/?iframe=true&width=100%25&height=100%25

9. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140197110000370

10. http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/109493101300210303

11. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3234167/

12. http://repository.cmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1100&context=hcii&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fscholar.google.com%2Fscholar%3Fstart%3D30%26q%3Dinternet%2Buse%2C%2Btv%2C%2Band%2Bdepression%26hl%3Den%26as_sdt%3D0%2C50#search=%22internet%20use%2C%20tv%2C%20depression%22

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Escapism: Leave Your Fantasy World And Live In Reality

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"The Difference Between Medicine and Poison is in the Dose" by Circa Survive "Did you ever wish you were somebody else?" This line from one of my all time favorite songs is one that I think most people would have to answer with a "yes".

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How to fight with you fear, face it or escape it? What will be caused

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Are you feeling really negative today? Have you been trying to fight it and get back into a positive and motivating mood? It can be hard to do! You can get stuck in the pit of negativity without a lifeline out. I'm here to offer you that lifeline! Let's take a look at what causes a negative attitude, what effect it has on your life, and some top ways to escape it and get back to a happier life.

What Causes A Negative Attitude?

Doubt, self-doubt, worry, and anxiety are all emotions that can contribute to you developing a negative attitude, but where do those emotions come from? They come from your thoughts, which come from your limiting beliefs.

In other words, if you are faced with a challenge, and you having limiting beliefs that make you think you are not going to be successful, your thoughts will bombard you with negative messages, such as "You can't do this!" All of those thoughts will pile up in your mind and create a negative attitude towards the challenge, yourself, and life in general.

You simply can't be positive when your beliefs are focused on negative things. Your perception is not going to allow you to change your attitude because it has been programmed to be focused on the negative.

Your experiences in life define your current beliefs. Everyone you have met, the environments you have been in, and the failures you have experienced all contribute to your current beliefs.

You may view your beliefs as 'truths'. For instance, you may have always failed at creating a successful business, and so you believe that you are incapable of creating a successful business. While that's not true, you believe that it is because of the experiences you have had, the perception you developed from those experiences, and the limiting beliefs that you developed from your perception.

What Are The Consequences Of A Negative Attitude?

A negative attitude affects your whole life. Relationships, success, health, and happiness are all affected by a negative attitude.

- You become unmotivated to go after what you want in life, therefore, you don't get the life you want
- You drain the energy from other people with your negative attitude, which affects your relationships negatively
- You maintain a level of stress over how much everything sucks, which affects your physical and mental health in a negative way

- You have a hard time living in the moment because you are focused on what's happened or will happen
- You miss quality time with friends and family because your focus isn't on them

The list goes on and on. Anything that matters in life is affected by a negative attitude. When you view things in a negative light, everything and everyone (including yourself) suffers negatively.

Top 3 Ways To Cure A Negative Attitude

Because your beliefs are where your attitude stems from, and your experiences make up your belief, you have to tackle the experiences affecting your beliefs.

1. Remove negative people. If you are surrounded by negative people who constantly contribute to your negative attitude, it's time to limit or end your time with them. For example, at work I used to hang out with a bunch of negative people. They complained about everything, from the hours we worked to the duties we had to take on. Their attitudes made me have a negative attitude about work. Once I distanced myself from them, I was able to perceive work in a new light and it became a much happier place.

2. Develop new habits. For example, talk to yourself more positively, do good things for your health, work on your personal growth. As you work on yourself, you will start to develop a more positive attitude. Developing healthy habits in your relationships, career, home, and health will change your future experiences for the better, which will affect your attitude in a positive way.

3. Start living in the moment. Forget about what has happened. In fact, forgive the past and move on. Focus on what is happening, what you can do today, and how you can make your life better with every action you take. By putting your focus on the now, your attitude will instantly become more positive.

Related Posts or You May Also Like:

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Negative Attitude: Causes, Consequences and Cures

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Are you feeling really negative today? Have you been trying to fight it and get back into a positive and motivating mood? It can be hard to do! You can get stuck in the pit of negativity without a lifeline out. I'm here to offer you that lifeline!

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cheat on your partner & fear

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Anger and rage are initial feelings after infidelity.

There's no doubt that catching a cheating partner causes psychological upheaval. Unless you're in an open relationship, which allow for multiple relationships, the impact of infidelity can break trust, crush an emotional connection and result in long-lasting problems. Whether it is emotional or sexual infidelity, both the cheater and the person who was cheated on are often left struggling through stages of animosity, resentment and anxiety.

Emotional vs. Sexual

To some people, cheating means infidelity on the sexual level -- or actually having intercourse with someone who isn't your partner. To others, having an emotional relationship with someone outside of the marriage or partnership is also cheating. In a study on infidelity in the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, psychological researcher Olivia Leeker and Al Carlozzi, professor of counseling psychology at Oklahoma State University, Tulsa, found that women had stronger emotional reactions to both emotional and sexual cheating than men did. That said, a separate study in the journal Psychology found that both men and women had higher levels of psychological stress reactions to their partner having sexual intercourse with another person than less intimate sexual acts or emotional infidelity.

The Cheater

The cheater is often left with shame, defensiveness and confusion after the affair, writes psychologist Susan Heitler on the Psychology Today website. The cheater needs to move past the defensive stage and acknowledge his actions before any type of emotional healing can take place. This also includes looking inward and understanding why the affair happened. Following infidelity, the cheater may experience powerful emotions of self-loathing that can stop this process from happening. These include guilt, embarrassment and even depression, according to the article "Facilitating Forgiveness in the Treatment of Infidelity: An Interpersonal Model" in the Journal of Family Therapy.

Gut Reaction

The first stage of psychological distress after discovering that a spouse or partner has cheated is typically rage and shock, writes Heitler in her article "Recovery From an Affair." This may leave the person who was cheated on without the ability to clearly express her feelings or rationally think about the situation at hand. As the shock wears off, the cheated-on partner will eventually begin to process what has happened.

Lasting Impact

Even though working through infidelity and discussing how it has affected the relationship is possible after the initial shock fades away, lasting effects may linger or eventually end the partnership. The psychological trauma of cheating often results in the couple splitting up in the year following the infidelity, writes social worker and sex addiction specialist Robert Weiss in the article, "One Cost of Multiple Betrayals and Infidelity: Divorce," on the PsychCentral website. Couples may find it challenging to work through feelings of hurt, betrayal and mistrust. While a professional therapist or counselor can help, the couple may need to consider separation.

About the Author

Based in Pittsburgh, Erica Loop has been writing education, child development and parenting articles since 2009. Her articles have appeared in "Pittsburgh Parent Magazine" and the website PBS Parents. She has a Master of Science in applied developmental psychology from the University of Pittsburgh's School of Education.

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There's no doubt that catching a cheating partner causes psychological upheaval. Unless you're in an open relationship, which allow for multiple relationships, the impact of infidelity can break trust, crush an emotional connection and result in long-lasting problems. Whether it is emotional or sexual ...

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Cheating, a way of escaping, can cause serious phycological issues.

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Anger and rage are initial feelings after infidelity.

There's no doubt that catching a cheating partner causes psychological upheaval. Unless you're in an open relationship, which allow for multiple relationships, the impact of infidelity can break trust, crush an emotional connection and result in long-lasting problems. Whether it is emotional or sexual infidelity, both the cheater and the person who was cheated on are often left struggling through stages of animosity, resentment and anxiety.

Emotional vs. Sexual

To some people, cheating means infidelity on the sexual level -- or actually having intercourse with someone who isn't your partner. To others, having an emotional relationship with someone outside of the marriage or partnership is also cheating. In a study on infidelity in the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, psychological researcher Olivia Leeker and Al Carlozzi, professor of counseling psychology at Oklahoma State University, Tulsa, found that women had stronger emotional reactions to both emotional and sexual cheating than men did. That said, a separate study in the journal Psychology found that both men and women had higher levels of psychological stress reactions to their partner having sexual intercourse with another person than less intimate sexual acts or emotional infidelity.

The Cheater

The cheater is often left with shame, defensiveness and confusion after the affair, writes psychologist Susan Heitler on the Psychology Today website. The cheater needs to move past the defensive stage and acknowledge his actions before any type of emotional healing can take place. This also includes looking inward and understanding why the affair happened. Following infidelity, the cheater may experience powerful emotions of self-loathing that can stop this process from happening. These include guilt, embarrassment and even depression, according to the article "Facilitating Forgiveness in the Treatment of Infidelity: An Interpersonal Model" in the Journal of Family Therapy.

Gut Reaction

The first stage of psychological distress after discovering that a spouse or partner has cheated is typically rage and shock, writes Heitler in her article "Recovery From an Affair." This may leave the person who was cheated on without the ability to clearly express her feelings or rationally think about the situation at hand. As the shock wears off, the cheated-on partner will eventually begin to process what has happened.

Lasting Impact

Even though working through infidelity and discussing how it has affected the relationship is possible after the initial shock fades away, lasting effects may linger or eventually end the partnership. The psychological trauma of cheating often results in the couple splitting up in the year following the infidelity, writes social worker and sex addiction specialist Robert Weiss in the article, "One Cost of Multiple Betrayals and Infidelity: Divorce," on the PsychCentral website. Couples may find it challenging to work through feelings of hurt, betrayal and mistrust. While a professional therapist or counselor can help, the couple may need to consider separation.

About the Author

Based in Pittsburgh, Erica Loop has been writing education, child development and parenting articles since 2009. Her articles have appeared in "Pittsburgh Parent Magazine" and the website PBS Parents. She has a Master of Science in applied developmental psychology from the University of Pittsburgh's School of Education.

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There's no doubt that catching a cheating partner causes psychological upheaval. Unless you're in an open relationship, which allow for multiple relationships, the impact of infidelity can break trust, crush an emotional connection and result in long-lasting problems. Whether it is emotional or sexual ...

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As we are escaping from fear or other difficulties, we are walking away from our real lives.

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We all do it now and then, but indulging in habitual escapism can have a harmful impact on your sense of self and on your relationships

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Please stop Cheating, it will affect you life negatively

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BY REBECCA RUBIN

COPY EDITOR

The pressure for students to stay ahead in classes to maintain a perfect "on-paper" representation for colleges has developed greatly in respect to the ever-increasing difficulty to get accepted to college. The unfortunate resort to cheating lowers moral standards and further proves to be an additional detriment that is crumbling the interior of the community.

Copying another classmate's homework? Though wrong, might not consciously seem so harmful. Asking your friend what was on the test he or she took the period before you? Clearly unacceptable. But using cheat sheets or finding tests online takes cheating to a new and inexcusable level. Bottom line, what we reap is what we sow. Students are continuously taught that when you cheat "you are only hurting yourself." But taking a step back from the mentality that it is crucial to obtain an A on every math test, students need to realize cheating can affect not only the individual but society as a whole.

As rampant cheating scandals have become prevalent in even Advance Placement level classes, it reinforces the belief that ultimately everything done in the dark will be brought to light, and a community of cheaters will remain so. The decline of standards in society will become prominent when the current wave of cheaters completes school. In the event that you or even a family member will need surgery, or a lawyer to defend you, are you going to want that doctor who copied off his friend's notes in college? Or the lawyer who bamboozled his or her way through law school? Chances are, no.

Teachers have recently been preaching a new twist on the old cliché -"practice makes permanent." Students will inevitably get accustomed to glancing over at a classmate's test, or using notes when it is clearly forbidden; it will seem almost natural. Eventually the entire country will be affected by the plight resulting from lack of morals, as ethics will ultimately become gone from society. Cheating is bad. Common sense. But the reflection of cheating upon an individual reflects the decline of the community, which clearly needs some elevation.

So yes, having your history teacher increase the difficulty on tests to cease cheating might be unfortunate, but in the long run the intention is to aid the growth and development of the individual and society. The reprimand for cheating at the Bay is clearly insufficient. As no real consequences have so far been implemented, widespread cheating is inevitable and therefore impossible to terminate. The individual must have the potency to guide his or her life in the direction wanted. If America falls from power, it will not be from the infliction of an outside force, but instead will rot from the inside out. The decline of ethics in society must be halted to retain and salvage what is left of morals, or the entire country will be affected by this epidemic.

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Opinion: Cheating has longterm negative side effects

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BY REBECCA RUBIN COPY EDITOR The pressure for students to stay ahead in classes to maintain a perfect "on-paper" representation for colleges has developed greatly in respect to the ever-increasing difficulty to get accepted to college. The unfortunate resort to cheating lowers moral standards and further proves to be an additional detriment that is crumbling the interior of the community.

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First of all, there is no doubt that people will taste continues fear after escaping from what they are afraid of. For example, fail an examination is one of the deepest fear of students, so many students choose to escape that by cheating. However, it never helps students solve this problem. According to an article analyzing effects of cheating in a college, students will feel challenging and difficult of every examination in the future after cheating in one test. As a result, what they are going to facing in the next examination will not be confidence, but fear again. (Rebecca, 2012) Another research also support this issue; the result of researches shown that students are more likely to be stagnate and satisfied after cheating in a test. Hence, students will not tried to work hard to get a better grade next time(Mikey, 2014). Additionally escaping will easily cause continues fear because it never solve the problems themselves, and escaping by cheating will even cause higher demand of that in the future (Rebecca, 2012). According to the analyzing and explanations of escaping, it is clear that, as a student escaped from examination by cheating, they didn't actually eliminate their fear, and even didn't figure out where his or her fear came from-understand the knowledge what he or she had learned and what will be tested in the examination.

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Scary Science: How people response to fear

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Scary Science: How people response to fear

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Everyone's body will response to fear automatically.  Fluff and freeze are the common reactions that we know, but some people will face to fear differently.

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Fear is an involuntary reaction that helps us quickly respond to potential threats.

Credit: Joe Prachatree/Shutterstock.com

For many people, fall is the spooky season. Daylight wanes as nights become longer, a chill touches the air, and trees lose their leaves and take on a skeletal silhouette.

If that alone doesn't make you uneasy, Halloween's approach triggers an outpouring of decorations and costumes that embrace the macabre: jack-o'-lanterns with evil grins; skulls and bones; crumbling gravestones; bloodthirsty vampires; and shambling, rotted corpses lurching toward an impending zombie apocalypse.

It's enough to send shivers down your spine. But why do certain things frighten us, and what can science tell us about what happens in our bodies when we're afraid? [ The Anatomy of Fear (Infographic)]

Cultural influences can lead people to be fearful of certain things, such as black cats or killer clowns. But there are also universal triggers of fear, according to neuropsychiatrist Dr. Katherine Brownlowe, chief of the Division of Neurobehavioral Health at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

"Typically, those are things that are going to make you die," Brownlowe told Live Science.

[Everything You Wanted to Know About Halloween]

"Heights, animals, lightning, spiders, somebody running after you in a dark alley - generally, people have some kind of fear response to those kinds of things," she said.

Fear is, first and foremost, a survival mechanism. When the senses detect a source of stress that might pose a threat, the brain activates a cascade of reactions that prime us either to battle for our lives or to escape as quickly as possible - a reaction in mammals that is known as the " fight-or-flight" response.

Fear is regulated by a part of the brain within the temporal lobes known as the amygdala, Brownlowe told Live Science. When stress activates the amygdala, it temporarily overrides conscious thought so that the body can divert all of its energy to facing the threat - whatever that might be.

"The release of neurochemicals and hormones causes an increase in heart rate and breathing, shunts blood away from the intestines and sends more to the muscles, for running or fighting," Brownlowe explained. "It puts all the brain's attention into 'fight-or-flight.'"

Some of our bodies' responses to mortal terror are throwbacks to mechanisms that served our ancient ancestors, though these responses aren't as useful to us anymore. When fear raises goose bumps on our skin, it makes the hair on our arms stand up - which doesn't seem to help us either fight an enemy or escape from one. But when our early human ancestors were covered with hair, fluffing it up could have made them look bigger and more imposing, Brownlowe said.

Freezing in place like a deer caught in a car's headlights is another frequent response to being scared, and Brownlowe noted that this behavior is commonly seen in animals that are preyed upon.

"If you freeze, then the predator is less likely to see you and pay attention to you - and, hopefully, less likely to eat you," she said.

The emotional response that we feel when we're afraid serves a purpose, as well - it heightens alertness, keeping the body and brain focused on staying safe until the threat is neutralized.

Even babies can be fearful of things such as loud noises, sudden movements and unfamiliar faces, and young children may be terrified of things that adults know aren't real - like a monster hiding under the bed or a boogeyman in the closet. It isn't until kids reach age 7 or so that they can differentiate between real-world threats and threats that live only in their imaginations, Brownlowe said. [ Goblin Sharks and 'Skeletorus': 6 Scary Beasts to Haunt Your Halloween]

What makes humans' responses to fear different from other animals' is that people can process that fear and tamp it down once they consciously understand that they are not really in danger.

"We can get startled, but instead of running away like bunny rabbits, we reassess the situation and figure out that we don't need to respond in a 'fight-or-flight' manner," Brownlowe said. "And then we can just get on with our day."

Some people even deliberately seek out the experience of being frightened - they watch horror movies, brave the terrifying drop of towering roller coasters and do whatever generates a feeling of immediate personal risk. According to Brownlowe, they're enjoying the chemical aftermath that follows a rush of fear - a feeling that can be euphoric.

"Once the 'fight-or-flight' signals cease, the brain releases neurotransmitters and hormones that mediate what we call the 'rest-and-digest' system," Brownlowe said. "The heart rate is coming down, the breathing is slowing, goose bumps are relaxing. There's a sense of internal cognitive relief in the body, and that feels good."

The modern world comes with a number of stresses that early humans never faced and never could have imagined - financial burdens, performance anxieties, and a number of other social pressures that can generate fear and crushing anxiety. A good old-fashioned scare can make some of the everyday fears we face seem less terrifying, Brownlowe added.

"It gives people perspective," she said. "If you're anxious about talking to your boss about getting a raise and then you get the crap scared out of you, talking to your boss is no big deal."

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Scary Science: How Your Body Responds to Fear

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For many people, fall is the spooky season. Daylight wanes as nights become longer, a chill touches the air, and trees lose their leaves and take on a skeletal silhouette.

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Do you have fear? What is your fear? What is you response of that? In most of the cases, almost in everyone's mind, there will be a fear which people worried about and suffered from. Imagine what will you react as you met you fear; someone may cry; someone may fluff; someone may freeze (Mindy, 2016). In fact, different people response to their fear differently either physically or mentally. Generally speaking, fear which is a reaction as people face to threats or dangers will easily cause escaping. As a result, derivational problems including continues fear, depression, and negative attitudes will occur.

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Fear which is a reaction as people face to threats or dangers will easily cause escaping. As a result, derivational problems including continues fear, depression, and negative attitudes will occur.

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Physiology responses always help people protect themselves. However, they might sometimes embarrass you. For example, as you are scared, you might lose control of yourselves, and start sweating, blushing, crying, etc.

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Nature, we are told, equipped us with all sorts of instincts to help us survive. However, most of them just get us into trouble. Especially the fear response ones. It's true that we live in a very different world than the primates who evolved these responses, but often what we do when we're afraid doesn't seem to make sense even in nature. Let's take a look at why we're cursed with some lousy responses to everyday scares.
10. Sweating
Humans are social creatures. That's why we keep grouping together in big cities even though we clearly hate each other. Exploding into a ball of salty liquid is no good when you are trying to tell a harmless little social lie like claiming you didn't ding the car door of the big angry man with the baseball bat. And yet there's always the general adrenal response. When people get nervous their body causes them to increase their heart rate so they can run and dilate their pupils so they can see, and sweat like hogs, so they don't overheat. Of course, we can't out-see wolves, or out-run bears, so we're pretty much just pre-salting ourselves for them. Perhaps we're trying to slowly kill our predators via high sodium intake?

But there could be another reason. Contrary to popular belief, dogs and horses and bees can't smell human fear, but humans can. What's more, this scent causes humans themselves to be afraid. Perhaps sweating like a marathon runner is a way to signal your unease to the people around you. Or perhaps, since fear is contagious, this is some small way in which you can trigger fear in the large gentleman with the bat in front of you.
9. Blushing
All right. I'll admit it. This one is personal. I have pale skin and an apparently fantastic array of capillaries that kick into gear at a moment's notice. Blushing doesn't sway our wild predators or our civilized ones. What's more, the whole thing is a dirty trick by the adrenal system. When the slightest problem pops up, it goes into the aforementioned adrenal response, including dilating blood vessels to get more blood and oxygent through the body. Fair enough. But what's making your - or, just as an example, my - face red isn't essential arteries. It's veins. And veins don't usually respond to the adrenal response. The ones in your face make an exception for extreme humiliation. So it's not a way to keep you alive. It's just a way to see you suffer. The leading theory is that blushing is a purely social response. It's a non-verbal way to show we screwed up, if only in our own minds. And if you have the type of nervous mind that thinks it screwed up a lot, enjoy your red face. Everyone else will.
8. Crying
What better way to respond to a stressful emergency than by making a sound like a fire engine and evacuating all the liquid in your face? Sniveling and hiccuping your way through an explanation of why you shouldn't be punished is sure to work on everything from modern traffic cops to ancient sabre toothed tigers. Seriously - why do we do this? The truth is, there are a lot of potential reasons. Research shows that emotional tears contain large amounts of hormones that would otherwise be in the body, increasing stress even further. So tears might be an evacuation route for fear and a way for people to calm themselves. A recent study showed that women's tears lowered the testosterone level of men who smelled them. Scientists think that this might have helped women fend off unwanted advances. A caveman keeps bothering the wrong cavewoman for him, and suddenly there's snot everywhere and she smells funky.

In Australia, a thief got so nervous during a robbery that he threw up. The vomit contained DNA, it was tested, and he was convicted. Polar bears are a lot less sympathetic than juries. How does throwing up all over ourselves help anyone? It looks like throwing up is part of the body's go-to response for stress, poisoning, head injuries, sickness, dehydration, and pretty much anything else. There are some noises about how throwing up makes people lighter, how it keeps them from cramping if they have to run after a meal, and how it might put off predators. Mostly, though, it's the only way the body knows how to respond when we feel crappy.

Although, it seems there is something called fecal vomiting. It's when the muscles around the lower intestine cramp up so hard that they squirt fecal matter into the stomach, which then ejects it through the mouth. I'm willing to bet even bears wouldn't want to eat something covered in that. So that might help people survive, although the cost hardly seems worth it.
6. Nervous laughter or smiling
Ah, this is the grotesque response we've seen in a million politicians, beauty pageant contestants, and reality TV show victims. They get horrible, horrible news, and they begin to smile. And you can tell, just looking, that they can't help it. This is painful for everyone. Why, biology? Why do this?

Some psychologists say that laughter is a good defensive strategy, and helps release the tension in the body, but that hardly applies in a situation like that. Those people aren't trying to convince themselves they're fine, they're trying to convince everyone else that things are fine. Laughing during tension is a social signal that lets those around know that they don't have to pay attention, since everything is fine. It's thought to be a way to dispel potentially dangerous group scenarios. A way of saying, "Nothing to see here. Move along. Certainly don't join in the mob attacking me." I wonder if it worked, even then.
4. and 5. Peeing and Pooing
Well, just to start with, no modern situation is helped by wetting the rug beneath you, but even back in the stone age, when people didn't wear underwear or have expensive carpeting, how would evacuating everything south of the belt make a frightening situation better?

Did you know that you could be carrying as much as eight pounds of 'waste' on you right now? No? Then what a delightful new fact you learned today! And if you're getting chased by wolves, it's nice to know that you and your extra eight pounds will be sprinting away from the oncoming pack as best you can. Unless you get rid of that extra weight . . . somehow. While everyone agrees that people wet themselves at the slightest provocation (How many of you did when you saw the redesign, for example?), sneaking some of that extra weight out the back end is often made even harder by fear. The adrenal response diverts blood away from the stomach and lower intestines, hindering digestion. So unless the poop is right next to the rectum, it can't come out. For those of you who managed it, in a particularly stressful moment, rest assured that accomplishing such a feat could be thought of as a sign of bravery. Pat yourselves on the back, you brave, smelly bastards! Just don't pat yourself anywhere lower.
3. Freezing
Most motorists in rural areas have mowed down enough rabbits and deer to recognize the freeze response. Yes, staying still is a helpful tool in survival. Freezing is not. Staying still means choosing not to move. Freezing means not being able to move, think, or respond. That can't be helpful in any situation. There are a couple of theories on why mammals have a freeze response. Some say that it's a last ditch effort, after flight has failed, to feign death and be left alone. Others say it's a first response to a sudden threat. The moment something happens we freeze. We take in all possible information, and keep still so whatever it is doesn't notice us, and then we respond. If whatever it was happened to be so close that it got to us before the freeze response was over, it would probably have killed us anyway. The freeze response can be overcome with training, as long as the brain has healthy intercalated cells. These cells, housed in the amygdala, are resonsible for 'extinction memories'. They are what trains to brain to recognized that what it once thought of as an overwhelming threat can actually be dealt with. Animals that have damaged intercalated cells can't be trained out of the freeze response, and will always see certain things as a threat.

I mean. Just. What the hell?

Goosbumps are part of the overall muscle response. When the body gets a massive shot of adrenaline, the muscles tense up. To keep them pumped, the body also puts out a tempting buffet of glucose for them to burn. Between the two, every muscle in the body is working and active, including the tiny ones that make body hair stand up when it's cold. Each little muscle beneath the skin pulls the hair upright, and with it comes some of the skin, creating goosebumps.
1. Fainting
There is one time when fainting is helpful. When you're a novelist, and you need to end a suspenseful scene on a dramatic note, you have your point of view character pass out and end the chapter. Other than that, it's total crap as a reflex. Many people think it isn't even a reflex, it's a social response. The Victorian era had many accounts of women swooning when an argument got too heated. Not that many ladies take a header into the ground during political debates anymore, and biology doesn't work that fast, so some social aspects of the behavior have to considered.

But some people do faint when they get too stressed. What, if any, help would that be? The technical term for this kind of fainting is vasal syncope. Blood pressure drops, and heart rate slows. Some say that it's a response to direct aggression from other humans. Fainting during dangerous fights or wars could be a way to signal that you're not a threat and get people to leave you alone. But there are plenty of animals that play dead without actually losing consciousness. A more likely explanation is hooked into why so many people keel over at the sight of blood. When blood pressure drops and heart rate slows, bleeding slows. Meanwhile, clotting continues just fine. Fainting quickly may be nature's version of triage. Shove everything else aside, and deal with the one major problem right away.

Via GibbsMagazine, Daily Beast, The Daily Telegraph, How Stuff Works, The Telegraph, Psychology Today, The Poop Report, My Shrink, How Stuff Works, and MSNBC.

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Ten Fear Responses That Make No Sense, And Why We Have Them

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Nature, we are told, equipped us with all sorts of instincts to help us survive. However, most of them just get us into trouble. Especially the fear response ones. It's true that we live in a very different world than the primates who evolved these responses, but often what we do when we're afraid doesn't seem to make sense even in nature.

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What is Fear &  How People Response Fear

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What is Fear &  How People Response Fear

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Fear is a way that people response danger, concern, and threat. Responses to fear are not only physical but also sometimes psychological.