| The relationship between chronic stress and psychopathology was examined in mothers of severely disabled children. To study this relationship, two methodologies were utilized, self-report (the Beck Depression Inventory) and projective (the Rorschach Inkblot Test). Two groups of women were compared: mothers who cared for a severely disabled child in the home and mothers of only healthy children. The major hypothesis was that the two groups of mothers would not differ on self-report of depressive symptoms but that they would differ on Rorschach assessment of psychopathology. The theoretical reasons for this prediction are discussed. Mothers of severely disabled children were found to exhibit stress-related psychopathology in four areas of psychological functioning: cognition, emotion, self-perception, and interpersonal perception. The psychological area most effected by the chronic stress was cognition. Here, 80% of mothers of severely disabled children exhibited psychopathology, compared to only 5% of control mothers. In the area of emotions, the results were similar with 75% of the mothers of severely disabled children exhibiting stress-related psychopathology compared to only 5% of the controls. Two cognitive coping styles were identified in the Rorschach data of the mothers of severely disabled children. One cognitive coping style was explained by using Roy Baumeister's theory of cognitive deconstruction. The second cognitive coping style was termed cognitive containment and explained with the aid of Pennebaker's research on levels-of-thinking. The self-report method did not discriminate between the two groups of mothers. The social, psychological, and theoretical implications of the findings were dismissed. |
