Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T20:58:56.209Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Coping Behaviour After Shipwreck

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Scott Henderson  and
Tudor Bostock
Scott Henderson
Affiliation:
National Health and Medical Research Council, Social Psychiatry Research Unit, The Australian National University, Canberra, A.C.T. 2600, Australia
Tudor Bostock
Affiliation:
Kippax Health Centre, Kippax Place, Holt, A.C.T. 2615, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

A description is given of the coping behaviour of seven men who survived a shipwreck and were not rescued until 13 days later. The principal behaviours shown by the men were attachment ideation, drive to survive, modelling, prayer and hope. Particular attention is paid to the first of these, and consideration given to its likely origins in behavioural evolution. It is proposed as a hitherto inadequately recognized coping behaviour. A follow-up examination 12 to 24 months later showed that five of the seven men available had developed substantial psychiatric disorder, while by contrast one was not only well but claimed to have been enriched by the experience. Exposure to extreme adversity or disaster may have long-term effects on mental health. Further longitudinal studies of disaster victims are necessary for the design of informed after-care.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 131 , Issue 1 , July 1977 , pp. 15 - 20
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1977 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Beach, H. D. & Lucas, R. A. (eds) (1960) Individual Group Behavior in a Coal Mine Disaster. Disaster Study No. 13, Publication 834, Washington D.C. National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council.Google Scholar
Bettelheim, B. (1960) The Informed Heart. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1973) Attachment and Loss, Vol 2. Separation, Anxiety and Anger. London: Hogarth Press.Google Scholar
Chodoff, P., Friedman, S. B. & Hamburg, D. A. (1964) Stress, defenses and coping behavior: observations in parents of children with malignant discase. American Journal of Psychiatry, 120, 743–9.Google Scholar
Critchley, Macdonald (1964) Psychological aspects of shipwreck. In The Black Hole and Other Essays. London: Pitman.Google Scholar
Eitinger, L. (1961) Pathology of the concentration camp syndrome. Preliminary Report. Archives of General Psychiatry, 5, 371–79.Google Scholar
Gibson, W. (1952) The Boat. London: W. H. Allen.Google Scholar
Hamburg, D. A. (1968) Emotions in the perspective of human evolution. In Perspectives on Human Evolution (eds Washburn, S. L. and Jay, Phyllis C.), pp 246–57. New York: Holt Rinehart & Winston.Google Scholar
Killian, L. M. (1952) The significance of multiple-group membership in disaster. American Journal of Sociology, 57, 309–14.Google Scholar
Lee, R. B. & DeVore, I. (eds) (1968) Man the Hunter, p 3. Chicago: Aldine Press.Google Scholar
Lindemann, E. (1944) Symptomatology and management of acute grief. American Journal of Psychiatry, 101, 141–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Margolin, S., Kubi, L. S. & Kanzer, M. (1943) The nature and incidence of acute emotional disturbances in torpedoed seamen of the merchant marine who are continuing at sea. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 97, 581–6.Google Scholar
Mechanic, D. (1974) Social structure and personal adaptation: some neglected dimensions. In Coping and Adaptation (eds Coelho, C. V., Hamburg, D. and Adams, J. E.). New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Moos, R. (1974) Psychological techniques in the assessment of adaptive behaviour. In Coping and Adaptation (eds Coelho, G. V., Hamburg, D. and Adams, J. E.). New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Olin, H. S. & Hackett, T. P. (1964) The denial of chest pain in 32 patients with acute myocardial infarction. Journal of the American Medical Association, 190, 977–81.Google ScholarPubMed
Visotsky, H. M., Hamburg, D. A., Goss, M. E. & Lebovits, B. Z. (1961) Coping behavior under extreme stress: observations on patients with severe poliomyelitis. Archives of General Psychiatry, 5, 423–48.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.