Discuss blogging in the context of psychological moderators such as coping, social support, control, and personality
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In psychology, the concept of “stress” is an umbrella term for a broad range of mostly negative psychological states with potentially health affecting implications (Carver & Vargas, 2011; Dougall & Baum, 2012). Stress can vary not only in duration and intensity but also in symptoms, which differ individually and manifest either biologically (high blood pressure, lack of appetite, sleeplessness, tremors, cardiovascular disease etc.) or psychologically (uneasiness, depression, fear, panic etc.). Stress is seen not as a simple effect of circumstances, but as result of a complex interplay between situations, personality traits and behaviour (Aldwin, 2007). Given the complexity of the psychological stress concept, research faces the challenge to find new ways of helping people deal with diverse and highly individual stress-related experiences. As the state “being stressed” is increasingly seen as normal, there is a need for low-threshold methods for intervention that do not stigmatize individuals as being “in treatment” for minor issues. One of the more recent developments has been the use of internet communication, especially weblogs, for coping with stress. To understand the potential benefits and the relative novelty of this approach, a brief recapitulation of the theoretical underpinnings of coping with stress and writing therapy is necessary.