Intervention Proposal

Literature Review

Name

University

Date

Literature Review

Breakups have been known to be a major cause of psychological distress experienced by many people in life. Much research has been done seeking to study problems related to interpersonal issues regarding bereavement and breakups. Breaking down of a romantic relationship is normally associated with psychological, social and emotional problems (Monroe and Rohde, 1999). The findings of the research, however, has suggested that there exists a significant variation about how people cope with breakups issues (Bonnano,2001). But still, there is no clear reason as to why some people have been able to overcome such problems and emerge stronger than ever before yet others tend to perish in them.

Circumstances of relationship breakups

Research done before has majorly concentrated on the issue of relationship break up which are associated with post-separation issue like stress (Lewandowski and Bizzocco). The relationship investment model has previously implied that people who tend to be more committed to their relationship, cohabitate and stay together for long, have been found to be I a position to have greater levels of tress after breakups (Sacher and Fine,1997).On the other hand, those who do not experience much distress after breakups are more likely to be responsible for initiating the breakup, have access to better psychosocial support, found someone else and even ending up being separated for so long. The power of these factors unfortunately in a bid to explain such scenarios is quite unsatisfying since they are more contextual and thus do not offer much opportunity for intervention. Research done before has further almost exclusively concentrated on those factors that tend to protect or promote the well-being of the people involved in a romantic relationship when it finally ends (Frazier and Tashiro,2003).

Positive psychological factors

There is e need to extend the focal point according to the positive psychological movement, from the narrow area of stress recovery to encompass the research of factors of resilience which do promote flourishing as well as the wellbeing of the people in a relationship after breakups (Seligman,2000). Within the paradigms of finding a solution to relationship issues, the identification of factors that may cause resilience and the related causes may help psychological practitioners shift the trajectories of people about the analysis of post break-ups circumstances and help from conditions of emotional distress geared towards positive recovery and adaptation.

The research thus was seeking to identify the positive factors of the psychology which do relate to both constructive and positive adjustment form distress after breakups. Several variables seem to be related to the adjustments that occur after breakups; this study identified factors through two criteria,

1.) The variables must have been related to the outcomes that are positive as well as the well being of an interpersonal loss and,2.) The variables must have been trainable, and they had to be shown to support well being of an individual through an intervention measure. A set of five psychological factors were studied about this technique, they included (Mindfulness, hope, Optimism, self-esteem, and self-compassion).

Mindfulness can be taken to mean the feeling of awareness that arises when an individual pays attention to the life experiences they have from time to time in trying to accept things in a way taken to be nonjudgmental (Babat,2003).This psychological factor has been linked to greater well-being, life satisfaction, and positive psychological functioning, recent research has justified that training people about mindfulness can help improve their wellbeing (Thoresan and Oman,2008).The mindful capacity may help mostly when the aftermath of a break up is being navigated as ruminant, low emotional tolerant and avoidant coping all have been linked to poor adjustment of post break up issues.

Optimism is another positive factor which has been linked to psychological health and subjective well being. This can be taken to mean the general feeling of expectation that someone has about positivity and positive outcomes in their life (Lopez,2009). Several research works conducted has shown that this skill can be trained and it can also be cultivated through measures of intervention in a bid to enhance well being and psychological functioning. Several mechanisms have linked this to the well being after a relationship break up. For instance, optimistic people tend to have a bigger social connection which brings them an advantage to cope with the loss. The kind of optimism that develops after a break up may help to formulate and even adjust a breakup dissolution.

Hope

Hope can be defined as a goal-oriented feeling which is composed of two critical factors, 1.) An agency which means the motivation that drives someone to achieve set objectives.2.) Pathways, which means the ability to plan for desirable objectives or goals.) Hope has on numerous occasions been linked to general adjustment of the psychological conditions and has been cited to be a critical ingredient that can help formulate after breaking up resilience. Some measures in the last decade have demonstrated intervention techniques that are designed to enhance the pursuit of goals and the clarification of those goals; this has justified that there exists a positive correlation between improvement of hope and the well being of the psychological conditions.

As much as there isn't much priority given to issues of hope in research about relationship breakups, studies of bereavement have justified that people who have high hopes do exhibit better adaptations and lower emotional distress after losing those they love. Suggestions have been made that people with high hopes cope more effectively to after loss and can easily form goals and pathways which will eventually enable them to refocus on the present as well as the future rather than spending time ruminating about the state of the relationship.

Self esteem

This can be taken to mean the overall evaluation of a person's worth and value. It has been suggested that individuals that have high self-esteem may protect themselves from unfavorable self-relevant rejection and information that people tend to be subjected to after their relationships come to an end. Studies have suggested that the individuals that have high self-esteem do not attend so much to cues of rejection and they can offset such experiences more easily by subscribing on information that is self-relevant which has a positive history where they have been valued socially.

Self Compassion

This is made up of three critical components namely self-kindness, common humanity and mindfulness. Individuals with high self-compassion seem to be well connected socially, satisfied with life, have lower rates of anxiety, low depression, and self-criticism.

The study sought to examine break up adaptations using novel techniques through a positive functioning paradigm; the research sought to expand the constructs of previous studies by building on the understanding that post break up trainable factors can help a breakup yield positive results. The study has justified that positive psychological factors which may develop after a relationship comes to an end were more efficient and if they accounted for any unique variance in the adaptations of individuals after breakups, after controlling both relationships and break up variables. Thus, the preliminary findings have implied that the trainable factors disused above can indeed help yield more positive psychological outcomes after relationship break ups.

REFERENCES

Bonanno, G. A., Papa, A., & O'Neill, K. (2001). Loss and human resilience. Applied and Preventive Psychology, 10(3), 193-206. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0962-1849(01)80014-7

Lewandowski, G. W., & Bizzoco, N. M. (2007). Addition through subtraction: Growth following the dissolution of a low-quality relationship. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 2(1), 40-54. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17439760601069234

Monroe, S. M., Rohde, P., Seeley, J. R., & Lewinsohn, P. M. (1999). Life events and depression in adolescence: Relationship loss as a prospective risk factor for the first onset of the major depressive disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 108, 606-614. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0021-843X.108.4.606

Frazier, P. A., & Cook, S. W. (1993). Correlates of distress following heterosexual relationship dissolution. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 10(1), 55-67.