Individual factors , primarily those which precede the event, include the person's characteristic defence mechanisms and coping styles along with his or her history of psychiatric illness, the specific meaning of the event to the person based on past experience, and other innate characteristics of the individual, such as intelligence and temperament. Also in this category would be coping efforts the person brought to bear in the particular case of coping with the event, which is actually an interaction of the person's style with the nature of the event. A second group of factors contributing to adaptation to an event were those factors in the recovery environment that generally follow the event. These include the availability and use of social supports and networks, the meaning of the event to society at large, and thus, how society regards the person who went through the event as well as subsequent events that either result from or follow the original trauma. Assessment and treatment of Asian-American survivors of mass violence.
Practical adaptation is hampered by culture shock, racism, and prejudice.
Buddhist fatalism normalises catastrophe and suffering, and advocates graceful acceptance. Traumatic events could be attributed to bad karma in a past life. A dominant Eastern personal interdependence schema is also at variance with Western individualism and materialism. From acute homeostatic reactions to chronic psychopathology. The effects of overwhelming experience on mind, body, and society, pp77-101.