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Stress and Coping from Traditional Indian and Chinese Perspectives

The paper focuses on the differences in the conceptualisation of stress in the East and the West in the light of differences in the social and cultural context. Modern notions of stress and coping and their Eastern equivalents, such as suffering or dukkha are discussed. While the Western approach is concerned with distress or negative aspects of stress, in Eastern thought, pleasure as well as pain are consid ered stressful and there is a greater degree of acceptance of suffering. While stress researchers have evolved a taxonomy of stress, Indian and Chinese texts focus on the causes of suffering. These include a discussion of types of pain (self and environment generated, supernatural), intense desires and ego involvement or afflictions (klesas). The consequences of suffering such as mental pain, despair and exhaustion are outlined and mediators of suffering which include dharma (right conduct), detachment, impulse control, belief in rebirth and karma and transcendence are discussed. Differing perspectives on coping and stress are presented and the parallels between Eastern and Western coping strategies are drawn. Clearly in the Eastern perspective, long-term strategies such as meditation and development of a philosophy of life are emphasised.