Talk:Personal distress

Latest comment: 1 year ago by PrimeBOT in topic Wikipedia Ambassador Program course assignment

Psych 2410A at King’s 2012 edit

- I have also decided to edit this article for Psych 2410A at King's 2012. Jvande48 (talk) 13:56, 19 September 2012 (UTC) I am proposing to take the following actions to help improve its quality; 1) Add some addition links through words used in existing information. For example, anxiety, worry, discomfort, and social neuroscience. 2) Introduce new information obtained through the results of the following study within the article; Holahan, C.J., Moos, R.H. (1987). Risk, Resistance, and Psychological Distress: A Longitudinal Analysis With Adults and Children. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 96(1), 3-13. 3) After adding length to the article through step 2, I will organize and improve structure with headings, as well as help make the concept easier to understand. Jvande48 (talk) 15:09, 4 October 2012 (UTC)Reply

―I have decided to edit this article for Psych 2410A at King’s 2012‖ <Hollywhite3 (talk) 15:17, 20 September 2012 (UTC)> the three steps that I propose are to: 1. add length to the article (more information) 2. make concept easier to understand 3. add an empirical evidence source: Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., Miller, P. A., Fultz, J., Shell, R., Mathy, R. M., & Reno, R. R. (1989). Relation of sympathy and personal distress to prosocial behavior: A multimethod study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(1), 55-66. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.57.1.55 99.249.193.56 (talk) 03:24, 4 October 2012 (UTC)Reply

Welcome! Please, one of you, put a tag on top of the page. Lova Falk talk 17:43, 21 September 2012 (UTC)Reply

Agreed; please tag this page with the course banner like we discussed in class. There are also instructions on the OWL site. Paul Conway, Instructor, Introduction to Child Development, Fall 2012, King's University College Canada 00:48, 5 October 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pauljosephconway (talkcontribs)

  • I have just just added information of a study that links risk and resistance to distress, including the method, measures, results, and suggested future research. I would very much appreciated any comments or constructive criticism that anyone has to offer to help make what I've contributed the best it can be. Thanks. Jvande48 (talk) 18:03, 31 October 2012 (UTC)Reply


1/1 The student has improved the quality of the information available in this article

1/1 The student has improved the clarity and/or organization of the content

1/1 The student has clearly explained the method and findings of an empirical paper

1/1 The student has correctly cited the empirical paper according to Wikipedia guidelines, and the paper is appropriate (i.e., it is an empirical study on development published the results in an academic journal)

Comments and suggestions: As far as completing your proposed steps for this article I cannot find much wrong because it’s very well edited; however, I would suggest looking into adding a Treatment section. One of the questions I have is, what kind of treatments can be used to treat personal distress? Altogether, you have added structure to this article and I am very impressed with the Suggested Future Research section.

Drosehar (talk) 18:41, 7 November 2012 (UTC)Reply


1/1 The student has improved the quality of the information available in this article

1/1 The student has improved the clarity and/or organization of the content

1/1 The student has clearly explained the method and findings of an empirical paper

1/1 The student has correctly cited the empirical paper according to Wikipedia guidelines, and the paper is appropriate (i.e., it is an empirical study on development published the results in an academic journal)

Comments Well written and edited, the additions to the article enhance the it tremendously. Good use of links as well.

Jmart264 (talk) 18:05, 8 November 2012 (UTC)Reply

Talk page edit

Hi Beckmulders! Please read WP:talk page: "A talk page (also known as a discussion page) is a page which editors can use to discuss improvements to an article or other Wikipedia page." A talk page is not a page where you can put another version of an article. You can use your sandbox to do this. One of the guidelines for talk pages is that you exercise caution in editing or removing others' comments. So I reversed your edits and restored the original talk page.
(I guess you know that you can still have full access to what you wrote by clicking on the history link and there click on your last version of 23 november.) With friendly regards, Lova Falk talk 15:35, 28 November 2012 (UTC)Reply

Definition edit

"Personal distress is an aversive, self-focused emotional reaction (e.g., anxiety, worry, discomfort) to the apprehension or comprehension of another's emotional state or condition." Where on earth does the second part of this definition come from??? I have checked the first source that is mentioned, and there is nothing there about apprehension or comprehension of others. Is this term "personal distress" used in a way that I am not aware of, or is the second part of the definition all wrong??? Lova Falk talk 20:21, 2 December 2012 (UTC)Reply

I added the source to the two sentences that I previously added, and I'm quite confident that its the same personal distress being described because other information has been used from the same source that i retrieved that information from =) hope the addition of a source suffices — Preceding unsigned comment added by Melindahua (talkcontribs) 05:43, 3 December 2012 (UTC)Reply

Tentative Addition edit

Differences between Personal Distress and Empathic Concern edit

Empathy as described in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is described as, "the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner" Personal distress, while very similar to ((empathy)) is not only self-focused, but can also be aversive to the affected individual, defined by the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 96 (1), 3-13, Psychology Glossary.</ref> Personal distress refers to an egoistic emotional reaction to another person's state of need, characterized by feelings of alarm, discomfort, and uneasiness. In a neuroimaging study, by Jean Decety and Claus Lamm, the distinction between empathetic concern and personal distress was thoroughly investigated by a set of ecological and extensively validated dynamic stimuli and additional behavioral measures. Lamm, Batson, & Decety, 2007. The participants in the study were asked to watch several video clips containing patients undergoing painful medical treatments. When asked to imagine themselves in the shoes of the patient (focusing on the imagined self) behavioral data confirmed that when the participant exclusively projected oneself into the aversive situation, their levels of personal distress were higher, compared to the higher levels of empathic concern and lower personal distress when asked to primarily focus on the the feelings and emotions of the affected patient (concentrating on the imagined other). Lamm, Batson, & Decety, 2007.

Would like to add this onto the article in addition to It is often the result of negative life experiences, including divorce, sexual dysfunction, job dissatisfaction and more. Personal distress can often result in eating disorders, substance abuse and suicide attempts (Decety, 2011). in the first paragraph
Signed by Melindahua 3 december 2012 20:11 (it's too much to explain why her signature didn't work)

Thank you for your definition - but I still have cannot let go of this issue.
  • For instance, Serge Reggiani gave "a few concerts despite his deteriorated health and personal distress".
  • Another example: Eugene C. Barker was a generous person. Few "who ever went to him in personal distress failed to receive assistance."
I think what is meant here with personal distress is that the person is distressed. And I think that is the general meaning of personal distress.
Now, seeing someone else suffer, can lead to reactions. And in these reactions, you can see the difference between empathy and personal distress. Now your definition comes in. But I think this is a specific case of personal distress. Not all personal distress has a connection with seeing someone else suffer. For instance, in your example of job dissatisfaction leading to personal distress it is the general meaning that is refered to - a person feeling distressed. Not somebody upset because someone else is upset.
So therefore I think that the definition either should be broadened to include a person feeling distressed, or be made specific: "In abnormal psychology, personal distress is..."
You get my point? Lova Falk talk 20:34, 3 December 2012 (UTC)Reply

Wikipedia Ambassador Program course assignment edit

  This article is the subject of an educational assignment at King's University College supported by the Wikipedia Ambassador Program during the 2012 Q3 term. Further details are available on the course page.

The above message was substituted from {{WAP assignment}} by PrimeBOT (talk) on 16:30, 2 January 2023 (UTC)Reply