ABSTRACT
A central theme in virtually all models of adjustment to disability is the importance of perceived control as a mediator of affective outcomes, although the role of control is typically described in only general terms. Their goal for this chapter is to articulate a more specific control-process framework that can be applied to understanding adjustment to diverse disabling conditions. In order to characterize disability in terms of control-related processes and show how disability engenders negative emotional response, the author first describes the sociomedical model of the disabling process. The chapter focuses on the disabling process in the elderly because it represents areas of functioning in which direct action alternatives and cognitive intrapsychic processes in conjunction are ultimately unable to protect the individual from fundamental losses in primary control. Finally, it is important to recognize that all efforts at preventing or ameliorating disability, and depression associated with disability, may ultimately fail as the individual succumbs to decline and death.
