Coping strategies as a mechanism for coping with stress

What are coping strategies

The term coping strategy

In psychology, it is customary to denote the actions that a person takes in order to cope with stress and, in general, with difficult life situations.

It is interesting that such practices are used by many people who have not even heard of this concept. In Russian, the word “experience” is widely used in a similar meaning.

Also close to the named concept is “coping behavior”. It is often identified with strategy. However, the difference still exists.

Coping behavior

– this is the individual’s potential readiness to experience difficult situations, and this ability is realized in specific coping strategies.

Why do modern psychologists pay so much attention to coping? The thing is that stress in our time has become an integral part of human life. Actually, already in previous times (in particular, at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries), outstanding minds - science fiction writers, futurologists, psychologists and others - predicted that our era would be filled with stress, the fight against which would become one of the main problems of human society. Their predictions, unfortunately, came true. This is why almost every person today needs coping.

It is not precisely established who first began to use the term “coping strategies.” It could be either L. Murphy, who observed how children overcome age-related crises, or A. Maslow, the same one who came up with the famous pyramid of needs; Maslow used it to study the behavior of adults in extreme situations. One of the first scientists to talk about coping strategies was Richard Lazarus. In general, the development of the theory of coping belongs primarily to American psychologists.

Psychologists have shown that stress is a discomfort in which a person realizes that his resources are not enough to solve the task assigned to him. It is characteristic that only the individual himself can determine whether a situation is stressful for him or not. Having determined the presence of stress, a person tries to overcome it in one way or another.

At first, the concept of “coping strategy” was used only for special, extreme cases, but then the meaning of the term expanded, and it is now applied to any difficult life situation.

Relatively recently, when studying coping, researchers began to use the so-called resource approach. It is based on the fact that in order to solve a difficult life problem, a person has certain resources, which can be both external (for example, emotional and moral support of others) and internal (the abilities and skills of the individual himself). Of all the available resources, some may be key, in relation to which the entire system of personality resources is built. The lack of some resources can be compensated by the excess of others.

Skillful distribution of resources allows some people to stay on their feet confidently, even if the stressful situation is quite strong. There is even talk about internal “trade” of resources. This is what coping consists of (how it differs from psychological defense).

The list of the most important internal resources of a person includes such positive qualities as the ability to be creative, adequate self-esteem, emotional stability (low neuroticism), and positive thinking.

General characteristics of stress

Definition 1
A stressful state is a tense mental or physical state of the body.

From a psychological point of view, stress in “small doses” is needed by the body, as it helps maintain an optimal mode of its functioning. In excessive quantities, stress has a negative impact on human performance and can also cause various psychosomatic diseases.

Note 1

For the first time, the Canadian endocrinologist and pathologist Hans Selye began to study the issue of stress, who comprehensively studied its effect on the human body. According to the teachings of G. Selye, stress represents a unique stimulus for the body, which contributes to the formation of resistance to various negative influences and consequences.

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In his research, G. Selye identified the following types of stress:

• Eostress is stress that has a positive (stimulating) effect on the human body.
• Distress is stress that has a negative effect on the human body.

The structure of stress is represented by three phases:

1. anxiety (anxiety);
2. resistance;
3. exhaustion.

If a person has a stable psyche, then he is able to overcome the phase of anxiety (anxiety) and, accordingly, avoid the development of stress.

Currently, it is customary to distinguish two main types of stress: informational and emotional.

Definition 2

Emotional stress is stress that is an integral part of a person’s life; it accompanies him every day, affecting a person in different “portions”.

Information stress is stress that is associated with a huge amount of information that bombards a person every day.

Regardless of the type and type of stress, what is important is the effect it has on the human body. That is why issues of coping with stress are of particular relevance in modern psychology.

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Classification of strategies in psychology

There are many coping strategies. In order to somehow navigate this multitude, classification is necessary.

One of the most famous classifications of coping was proposed by Richard Lazarus.

:

• Problem-focused strategies - have 11 possible actions;
• Emotionally focused strategies - involve 62 coping actions.

Other psychologists have also proposed their classifications. According to Moos and Schaeffer, for example, three strategies are distinguished: assessment-focused (the individual determines the meaning of the situation for himself), problem-focused (the individual makes decisions and takes specific actions to overcome stress), and emotion-focused (maintaining emotional balance, managing feelings). A similar approach was proposed by Perlin and Schuler.

Among other classifications is a system proposed by domestic psychologists that distributes coping strategies depending on the actions underlying them. Thus, some strategies are based on cognition, others on specific behavior, and still others on emotional experience. Other experts analyze and classify one type of strategy in detail. For example, there are three types of emotional coping strategies: avoidance, self-blame, and preferential interpretation.

Some experts classify strategies according to their productivity. Thus, there is a system of three types of coping strategies: turning to others for help and support, an unproductive strategy (avoiding a problem due to a lack of resources to solve it) and a productive strategy (active actions aimed at finding resources and solving the problem).

Basic criteria of coping strategy in coping with stress

There are quite a wide range of classifications of coping strategies, but they are all based on three basic criteria:

1. A problem or emotional criterion is a coping strategy that is based on an emotionally focused reaction aimed at effectively solving a problem or partially changing it in one’s favor.
2. Behavioral or cognitive criterion - represents a hidden (internal) coping strategy, when the solution to a problem or stressful situation is carried out by influencing perception.
3. The criterion of success or failure - implies the choice of constructive or destructive behavior to solve a stressful situation. In the first case, overcoming a stressful situation will be successful, in the second - unsuccessful, since it is impossible to overcome a stressful situation through destructive behavior.

Any coping strategy that a person uses can be assessed based on the above criteria, even for the simple reason that a person who finds himself in a stressful situation can use either one or several coping strategies at once.

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Types of strategies

The time has come to cover in more detail the various types of implementation of coping behavior.

Problem-oriented coping.
These, as already mentioned, are actions aimed at solving the problem itself. There are a number of types of problem-oriented coping
:

• Confrontational coping is actions aimed at inciting confrontation and clashes. Such actions are characteristic of impulsive people prone to conflict.
• Controlling emotions - this behavior is typical of reserved people who prefer not to open their feelings to others.
• Seeking approval and support from others - while the individual tries to attract resources from outside to solve his problem, to use society.
• Avoidance is a coping strategy characteristic of spiritually weak people, although anyone can use it for a short time. Such coping involves avoiding the problem in illusion, alcoholism, drug addiction. “Ordinary”, fairly strong-willed people resort to such behavior when there is too much mental trauma or fatigue from difficult circumstances.
• The next type is emotionally oriented coping. Withdrawal into a replacement activity is coping, similar to sublimation, although in this case the choice of replacement activity is wider.
• Creativity is an important type of coping behavior in which experience is expressed through drawing, embroidery and other forms of art. This also includes humor, which allows you to find some positive in a negative situation.
• Fantasy is also an important type of coping in which a person uses imagination; this resource allows you to find a creative way out of sometimes the most seemingly hopeless situations.
• An outburst of emotions is such coping when even destructive experiences, but in a socially acceptable form, can help find a way out of the situation.
• Containment is coping in which a traumatic situation is repressed into the unconscious, through which the person can continue to exist; Sometimes this involves switching to another activity.
• Discharge is behavior when destructive experiences are transferred to material objects.
• Detachment – ​​turning off all emotions.

Types of psychological defense

Coping and psychological defense are mechanisms that allow the individual to adapt to changing external situations that act as stimuli.

These mechanisms are similar to each other, but have certain differences

:

• Coping occurs in a person’s mind; he can control behavior and change tactics; and psychological defense arises in the unconscious and it is impossible to fully control it.
• Psychological protection is aimed only at reducing psycho-emotional stress, and coping allows you to build effective relationships.
• Coping unfolds gradually over a certain period of time; and psychological defense occurs at lightning speed, while a distortion of reality is observed.
• Coping presupposes the presence of certain resources inherent in it, and psychological defense indicates a lack of resources and flexibility of consciousness.

Just like coping, psychological defense can be presented in various forms.

:

• Repression
  : a person forgets a situation that caused him discomfort. However, such a mechanism is not always reliable, since memories can return again. And to effectively forget, the brain spends a huge amount of resources.
• Projection
  : This is a mechanism in which one's own thoughts and desires are unconsciously attributed to other people; this allows you to relieve yourself of responsibility for actions that seem “wrong.” For example, strong jealousy may be a consequence of the desire to cheat on your wife.
• Introjection
  : this is the indiscriminate appropriation of other people's thoughts, norms, rules to oneself, regardless of one's own desires. In childhood, introjection is a normal mechanism, since all education and training are based on it (it is known that children perceive all information about the world uncritically); but in adulthood it can lead to the inability to have one’s own opinion, feel and think independently; a person turns into some kind of biorobot.
• Merger
  : in this behavior, the boundary between one’s own and another personality disappears, leaving one all-encompassing “we”. This mechanism manifests itself positively in the relationship between a very young child and his mother, since it allows the child to survive in the first years of his existence. But in adults, fusion gives rise to the disappearance of the ability to feel, relationships are deprived of passion.
• Rationalization
  : this mechanism encourages you to look for the causes of unpleasant situations not in yourself, but in some external circumstances. For example, a person, having failed to get a job that interests him, tries to convince himself and others that he himself did not particularly want to get it, since the work is supposedly tedious and uninteresting. Rationalization often manifests itself as devaluation.
• Denial
  : This is a mechanism that manifests itself as an attempt to deny obvious facts. Denial is a complete rejection of unpleasant information. This behavior is reminiscent of the actions of a small child who thinks that if he closes his eyes and does not look at the bee, it will disappear and will not sting him. Naturally, such actions do not make the problem disappear, and sooner or later the presence of the problem has to be recognized (although often by that time it has already had its final impact on the person).
• Regression
  : in this case, a person adapts to a difficult situation by returning to forms of behavior familiar from childhood - such as crying, whims, emotional requests, etc. A person learns on an unconscious level that such behavior guarantees a way out of a difficult situation, since it really worked in childhood : after all, his parents decided almost everything for him. However, in adulthood, regression is usually an indicator of immaturity, mental weakness, and inability to find a successful strategy to solve a problem.
• Sublimation
  : a mechanism in which, in an attempt to forget a traumatic situation, a person switches to some other activity that is socially acceptable; most often it is creativity and sports. Sublimation is a productive defense mechanism because it has given society many great works of art and sporting achievements.
• Reactive formation
  : in this case, consciousness protects a person from unpleasant impulses, producing opposite impulses, and often in an exaggerated form. For example, a person believes that it is unacceptable to even lightly spank children for pranks, and those parents who do this should be immediately brought to justice (or shot).