Stress and Coping in Cast Away

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Stress and Coping in Cast Away Billy McGuire Psychology 101- Tuesday 2:00PM In the film Cast Away, stress and coping are the aspects of psychology in focus. Stress and coping are both very important parts of psychology; they have many relationships with other parts of psychology, and are very complex in themselves. Stress is defined as “mental and physical condition that occurs when a person must adjust or adapt to the environment” (Coon 436). Stress is a part of every person’s day-to-day life, and is unavoidable. Though some stress can excite people, too much can wear a person down. In order to deal with stress, we cope. Coping is defined as “the thoughts and actions we use to deal with stress” (Kelly). Coping helps relieve stress, so it is one of the most important processes we go through. There are also other parts of psychology that fall under this topic, like stressors and pressure. A stressor is “a specific condition or event in the environment that challenges or threatens a person” (Coon 438). Pressure is “a stressful condition that occurs when a person must meet urgent external demands or expectations” (Coon 438). Stressors and pressure cause stress in our lives, whether it is meeting a deadline or surviving a plane crash on a deserted island. Problem-focused and emotion-focused coping, along with frustration, also belong to this topic. Problem-focused coping is taking a situation head on and dealing with it, whereas emotion-focused coping is controlling the emotions. Frustration is the “emotion that occurs in situations where a person is blocked from reaching a desired outcome” (Berger). The film Cast Away centers on a man named Chuck Nolan, who works for FedEx. His job is very hectic, and keeps him extremely busy. He has a girlfriend, Kelly, who drives him to the airport on Christmas Eve; as Chuck received a last-minute call to fly out to
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