Coping in plain sight: Work as a local response to event-related emotional distress in contemporary U.S. society

Abstract

This article examines how middle-class psychotherapy clients in Southern California use work as a coping strategy in the aftermath of distressing life events. It begins by arguing why all such distress in the aftermath of unbidden and unanticipated events are “local” distresses, embedded in particular social and interpersonal contexts, and then discusses the various ways in which people may use cultural resources, including ordinary, mundane, everyday routines and practices, such as work, to express and cope with emotional distress. Three case studies are used to illustrate how work can be used to avoid emotional distress, to conceal it, and also to acknowledge and heal it.