Glossary

avoidance	Method of dealing with conflict by avoiding the people, situations, and issues that stimulate it.



catharsis	Venting negative emotions to rid oneself of them so that they can be replaced by more positive ones.



child abuse	May include not only physical assault on a child but also malnourishment, abandonment, neglect, emotional abuse, and sexual abuse.



constructive arguments	Arguments that stick with the issues, that attack the problem and not the other person, that employ rational methods, and that result in greater understanding, consensus, compromise, and closeness between two people.



crisis	A drastic change in the course of events; a turning point that affects future events.



crisis overload	A series of crises occurring one after another until they become more than a person can handle.



destructive arguments	Arguments that attack the other person rather than the problem; that increase resentment and hostility and undermine trust, friendship, and affectionate feelings; that result in greater alienation; and that do not solve the problem.



family violence	An illegitimate use of physical force or aggression or of verbal abuse by one family member toward another.



incest	Sexual activity between two people who are closely related.



interpersonal sources of conflict	Those tensions that occur in the relationships between people.



involuntary manslaughter	The unintentional killing of another human being, such as while driving an automobile.



living-dying interval	Period of time between the knowledge of the imminence of death and death itself.



pedophilia	A sexual perversion in which a person's primary or exclusive method of achieving sexual arousal is by fantasizing or engaging in sexual activity with prepubertal children.



personal sources of conflict	Those that originate within the individual when inner drives, instincts, and values pull against one another.



physical sources of conflict	Inner tensions having physical origin, such as fatigue, hunger, or a headache.



posttraumatic stress disorder	Severe stress reactions that occur after a person has suffered a trauma.



situational or environmental sources of conflict	These include living conditions, societal pressures, cultural strains, and unexpected events.



spouse abuse	Physical or emotional mistreatment of one's spouse.



sudden infant death syndrome, crib death	The sudden, unexpected death of an infant, the exact cause of which is uncertain but is thought to be due to respiratory malfunction.



trajectory of life	Projection of a certain life span and the activities individuals are going to experience during it.



ventilation	The process of airing, or expressing, negative emotions and feelings.

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