Coping Strategies: What Are They And How Can They Help Us?
When we face certain problems or challenges that life throws at us, our ability to keep a cool head can be key when it comes to successfully overcoming obstacles
One of the abilities that allow us to do this is coping. But what exactly is coping and why are some people better able to achieve their goals?
In psychology, coping has been defined as a set of cognitive and behavioral strategies that the person uses to manage internal or external demands that are perceived as excessive for the individual’s resources (Lazarus and Folkman 1984). It can be considered as an adaptive response, of each person, to reduce the stress that derives from a situation seen as difficult to face.
Coping refers not only to practical problem solving, but also to the ability to manage emotions and stress in the face of the problem situation Modifying one’s own coping strategies to effectively deal with stressful events depends, then, either on the way in which events are evaluated, or on our capacity and the possibility of capturing information, seeking help and social support in the context where they occur. lives.
The main coping strategies
Psychology studies highlight three main characteristics of coping strategies, from which they can be classified as follows: (1) The assessment, search for the meaning of the critical event; (2) the problem, tries to confront reality, managing the consequences that are presented to us; and (3) the emotion, regulation of emotional aspects and attempt to maintain emotional balance. In this order of ideas, we can identify that coping strategies are identified in three classes:
Problem-focused strategies are usually used in conditions of stress seen as controllable: they are task-oriented strategies to achieve resolution and/or modification of the problem. On the other hand, strategies focused on emotions tend to be used when we perceive the stressful event as uncontrollable, such as what can be experienced in the face of danger: You try to face the problem by focusing on the emotions and releasing them and trying to relax
Finally, strategies based on avoidance tend to be handled in those moments in which the person assumes postponing active coping due to the need to organize and gather their psychosocial resources before actively facing the situation: they are strategies focused on evasion. , in distraction, in distancing yourself from the stressful event, or turning to another activity to not think.
Facing a situation does not mean doing it the right way.
In each of these types of coping, functional and/or dysfunctional strategies can be used. This leads to the consideration that, in reality, there are no a priori adaptive or maladaptive coping styles, There are strategies that may be effective in one situation, they may not be effective in others
Developing our capacity for good coping
Therefore, It can be concluded that the essential element for a good adaptation to the stressful event especially in the case of long duration of stressful events over time, is both the flexibility in the use of coping strategies, the ability not to use a single strategy and change it if we find it ineffective and maladaptive.
Some coping strategies that we can learn to develop could be:
The state of well-being is therefore accessible through a balance between our will and the possibility of acting in accordance with the context in which we live, thus strengthening our internal resources and those available in our environment.
