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“I’m in charge ...I think that’s the way I’ve lived my life. Get on with it and do the
best you can...sod em and get on with It you’ve got to be confident and feel
invincible (in past job) so that has helped me cope with this. I’ve been on plenty
of bad jobs so you have to make the most of it‘’ (05/clin/1047/ent-sw)
“I can stand up and again I can get excited and enthusiastic about getting my
point across, but it’s something that has helped me. So I think with work you
actually build that confidence up, you have opportunities and you take those
opportunities.... So through life you have to take opportunities you have to learn
from experiences and move forward, um, but I don’t think you’re conscious of
it....” (01/clin/0080/pla)
“The important thing is that you come to terms with it as quickly as possible
because the longer it goes on the worse it becomes...you can’t hide from it, it’s
there” (05/clin/1052/ent-sw)
Stable distressed group
This group did not report perceiving themselves as able to change their situation, thoughts and
feelings, but rather viewed their difficulties as pervasive, uncontrollable, and unmanageable.
Interestingly, one participant reported that constantly changing treatment and other
circumstances were instrumental in preventing adjustment to their condition.
“I think because it's been bad, my skin, it's been bad for so long, I think I've just
come to accept that it's bad, I've been told that, well I've been told three things,
one that I've been very unlucky, and the other one, what was it, that I'll always
have it and I've known since I was little that I'll always have it, one on my
neighbours says oh you’ll grow out of it and I'm saying I'm still waiting to grow out
of it and I think I've just come to accept that it's always going to be bad and that’s
why I've let it get on top of me so I've accepted it in a silly way, you know, and I
think that’s why I let it get on top of me and I let it affect me, you know social life
and other things because I've accepted that it's bad so because it's bad I
shouldn’t really, I shouldn’t go out, I shouldn’t mix much, not just go out”
(03/clin/1016/derm-barns)
Stage 2 - Intervening cognitive processes – changed improved group
Where participants identified themselves as having experienced an improvement in their
adaptation, they displayed similar characteristics to the stable coping group, in terms of their
core schema and appearance schema focus. The group reported making downward social
comparisons and offering external attributions to the reactions of others to visible difference.
Once again, a sense of self-efficacy was important to this group.
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