What is ‘coping’?

Coping‘Coping’;To face and deal with responsibilities, problems or difficulties, especially successfully or in a calm oradequate manner.

Coping pretty much describes all the different things people do to manage and reduce the stress they feel as a result of issues, problems or difficult situations that occur.

Everyone experiences different levels of stress, and also have different ways of coping, which is completely fine.

Moreover, coping can be defined as the expending and conscious efforts of individuals to solve external or internal problems or dilemmas which can minimize the occurrence of stress or conflicts.

Despite this, some coping strategies are seen as less beneficial, because they reduce stress temporarily, but don’t reduce it in the long run (and

often have other bad impacts).

Drugs and alcohol are examples of less effective, and sometimes damaging coping strategies.

Positive coping skills are any strategies which people find to reduce stress effectively without future backlash. It is these skills you want to develop to help you manage stressful circumstances.

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There are over hundreds of identified coping mechanisms by psychological researches and studies, but, over time, these strategies have been summed up into 3 broad classifications:

Appraisal-focused (adaptive cognitive) -The best example of this is the denial coping strategy. It is being used to resolve a dilemma by distancing oneself to the existing problem. Positively speaking, people who employ this particular kind of coping mechanism, sees humor as their “stress moderator”.

Problem-focused (adaptive behavioral) – This type of a coping strategy tries to study and deal with the problem. “How is this done?” Humans find out the basic information about a certain problem and then in order to cope with it, some people try to discover and manage new skills to solve the problem

• Emotion-focused coping strategy – It comprises the release of pent-up emotions, control of hostile feelings and the employment of meditation or relaxation techniques. Likewise, this mechanism of coping is geared towards the understanding and perception of stress, and the wise management of feelings or emotions

Sourceshttp://au.reachout.com/What-is-copinghttp://www.homeescapade.com/the-different-coping-mechanisms-of-human-nature/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coping_(psychology)#cite_note-Carver-6