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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 3, 1978)
Singles adjust to life on their own By LORRAINE NELSON Of the Emerald Current statistics indicate that eight out of 10 marriages in Oregon end in divorce. For Lane County, the figures are higher. No one reason can be cited for divorce, according to Linda Sherman and Polly Jamison, University doctoral candidates in clinical psychology. But Sherman speculates, that a chang ing society, new roles for women and differ ent rates of growth between partners in a marriage could be contributing factors. Sherman and Jamison are currently involved in a Separation Adjustment Pro gram conducted by Stephen Johnson, a University associate professor of psychol ogy, and Peter Alevizos, a research psychologist. The program is designed to explore adjustment to single life. All participants in the program attend a weekend counseling workshop — a three day intense, engineered experience geared toward personal growth. The workshops center around “disen gagement” — letting go, saying goodbye to one’s partner — and social interaction. To help "singled” individuals become more in touch with their feelings, assign ments for social contacts are given during the workshop. The assignments are tail ored to where each participant is in the dis engagement process. », Sherman says the workshop elicits a eeling of sharing among participants when they realize there are other people going through the same experience. The first workshop was held july 14 and attracted 18 participants, the majority of them from Lane County. The second ses sion will begin on August 11. To register for the workshop or for more information, call 686-4960. The program is part of an on-going re search project on post-separation adjust ment started by Johnson, a man “singled” four years ago. The research was first funded by internal support at the University, then by a small research grant. In 1976, Johnson received a three-year grant from the National Institute of Mental Health. In his book, "First Person Singular: Liv ing the Good Life Alone” (1975), Johnson describes separation as “perhaps life’s most difficult assignment.” He says that “intense and disturbing emotional turmoil is the common experi ence. “The feeling of being overwhelmed by unfamiliar, unexpected, and frightening emotions is normal, the fear of being totally unable to meet new and even old respon sibilities is normal; the fear of losing com plete control is normal; the fear of a break down, of going crazy is normal," Johnson says. Johnson has collected data on post separation adjustment in California and Oregon. Information from “singled” indi viduals who participated in a group therapy session in Eugene last year was gathered along with material from people who have undergone no treatment at all. Contact will be maintained for one year with this summer s workshop participants, and the three groups will later be compared. Sherman says the researchers are looking for the best way to help people ad just to separation. They want to know if a treatment pro gram is better than time, and if so, what kind of program. The researchers have identified three common stages experienced during the ad justment period. • There is the "crisis,” where life abruptly changes and “everything is different, everything is new,” Jamison says. The av erage length of a “crisis” is about one year. • The social adjustment period, where people need to get involved in new relation ships, but forget how to date or don’t know what is socially appropriate. Sherman says she is out to dispel the myth that singles bars are the only places to meet people. • The “Who am I?” personal growth period. “Many people find they have an oppor tunity to grow they didn’t have in their rela tionship,” Sherman says. “It's a growth provoking experience.” Many people experience personal problems and they tend to blame the other person for their problems, Sherman says. “Blame is really important,” she says. “However, many of those problems come up again, when the other person is not around, and you discover that you come in to the relationship with those problems.” \ & Special Encore Performance The Gone Show August 5 Limited seating so come early The fun starts at I — Don't miss It! The Gong Show EjjiigJJfEUfEl CLASSES BEGIN Sept 30 MCAT .8/15. 9/13 Oct. 7 DAT 8/10, 9/10 Oct. 14 SAT .8/15. 9/13 Oct 21 GRE .8/14, 9/19 Oct. 28 GMAT 8/27. 9/26 Nov. 4 SAT. .8/26, 9/22 Dec. 2 LSAT . 10/7, 10/24 Dec 2 SAT .1030 Dec 9 GRE. 10/15. 11/14 Free Orientation The Gallena, 600 S W 10th Portland 222-5556
