Emotions play a key role in the life of any person. They make people’s life bright and eventful allowing feeling happy, sad, angry, glad, or depressed. Both the article “Course on helping” and Chapter 3 of the book in question deal with controlling human emotions. The difference between the article and the book lies in their approach to the issue of emotions. The book, namely Chapter 3, deals with the physiological and biological nature of emotions, while the article shows how to help people with emotional disorders. According to the article, there are three phases of coping with heartache: Threshold, Stabilize, Mobilize, and Transform; from these, Threshold is the most important for it allows establishing contact with a Friend and earns his/her trust.
To begin with, the Threshold is the most important phase in helping a person to cope with heartache. The success of this initial phase may influence the entire course on helping a person, because “the first four minutes of the initial contact are critical for establishing the tempo and tone of the relationship.” (“Course on Helping”) At this stage, it is necessary to let the person know that you care for him/her and are open to complaints and revelations. Successful passing through this stage helps to earn the trust of the Friend due to agape and ability to cope with chaos.
Expressing agape is essential for establishing contact with a person. According to the article, agape is love towards a person that “does not depend on any lovable qualities that the object of love possesses.” (“Course on Helping”) This makes it possible to help unknown people and to take their concerns for your own ones, or at least to show that you do. At this, it is important to free the mind from any personal problems and to “downshift to neutral” (“Course on Helping”), which would help to stand aside of the possible chaos. Eye contact and physical touch are also of great importance because they can help to earn a person’s trust. Proper distance between you and a Friend is also crucial. The article states that “we should move as close as cultural difference and personal comfort permits.” (“Course on Helping”) However, the need for the distance should be respected, and if a person feels discomfort standing too close, one may use eye contact instead.
After this phase, Friends are ready to stabilize. Stabilization helps to “restore balance in a Friend’s feeling and thinking, a key requirement for effective decision making.” (“Course on Helping”) When this phase is successfully passed, problem-solving is possible at Mobilize phase. When the plan for solving a problem is worked out and put into action, there is time for the final stage, Transform, which helps a person to cope with emotional dysfunctions.
In sum, the book and the article under consideration give a perfect idea about emotions and the ways to help people who have certain emotional traumas. Chapter 3 of the book helps to find out more about how emotions are formed, and which role they play in criminal justice, while the article “Course on Helping” give some pieces of advice on how to help a person with stressful emotional experience using four main stages, namely, Threshold, Stabilize, Mobilize, and Transform. The phase Threshold is the most important; successful going through this stage may guarantee unproblematic dealing with the other three stages.
References
“Course on Helping.” WonderWise Parent. 2006. Kansas State University. Web.