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ERIC Number: ED290985
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1987-Aug-29
Pages: 23
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Eleven Interpretations of Personal Suffering.
Foley, Daniel P.
This document defines suffering as the affective aspect of the pain experience while the cognitive aspect of the pain experience is the sensation of pain. It considers personal suffering, which mean's one's own suffering, and not the suffering of other people. It notes that a particular interpretation of suffering may be formulated in any number of perceptual statements and that a perception of suffering, an affective reaction to that interpretation, and the action tendency resulting from the perceptual and affective responses to suffering constitute the attitude toward suffering. Attitudinal components gathered from listening to reports of patients about their suffering, reading therapists' reports, and analyzing the literature on suffering are discussed and categorized into 11 attitudes toward personal suffering: (1) punitive; (2) testing; (3) bad luck; (4) submission to the laws of nature; (5) resignation to the will of God; (6) acceptance of the human condition; (7) personal growth; (8) defensive; (9) minimizing; (10) divine perspective; and (11) redemptive. This report explains how an attitude scale will be constructed to describe each of these 11 attitudes to measure individuals' attitudes toward suffering. Three research projects being designed to investigate the attitude, age, religion, sex, and group differentials are discussed. (ABL)
Publication Type: Reports - General; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A