Coping Strategies: A Theoretically Based Approach

According to the Center, “Positive psychology is the systematic study of human strength, resilience and qualities that empower individuals and group of people to succeed” (Positive Psychology Center, 2014). Positive psychology’s founders learned through study that people usually place more emphasis on what goes wrong in their lives; they focus on their failures. For instance, divorce, financial obligations, or losing a job. It is imperative to comprehend the characteristics of undesirable experiences in an individual’s life. As an alternative to focusing on failure, focus can be placed on the positive situations in life and understand those are the occasions worth living for. Positive psychology emphasizes strengths and weaknesses, magnifying the positive aspects of life, and healing the effects of negative experiences. Positive psychology focuses on a person’s strengths and the hope of something larger then oneself to lead individuals to a more meaningful

One coping mechanism that I will be using is from the chapter 9 in our book Cognitive Restructuring: Reframing. I am choosing this technique because I need to change the way perceive my stressors. I am someone who makes mountains out of molehills, and I often have anxiety attacks that affect my psychologically and physiologically well-being. I have reached a point where I can no longer continue living my life feeling physically and emotionally drained. I know something has to change. Therefore, to rid myself of the toxic thoughts that rule my life I have decided to make a change by applying the cognitive restructuring steps into my everyday life.

After completing the “Coping with Stress Scale,” and averaging out my scores, I received an active-cognitive coping score of 2.09, an active-behavioral coping score of 1.61, and an avoidance coping score of one. These scores accurately describe my coping style because it says I use the active-cognitive coping style more frequently, and I do. I do use active efforts to construct thoughts to help cope with the problems. I always think of solutions to my problems, keeping my problems to myself. I always think I can manage to figure out a way to understand a problem that I’m having. The active-behavioral coping style score was spot on. My score indicated that I rarely use this style, and that’s very true. I rarely talk to others about my problems. The avoidance coping style score of one was also accurate. I very rarely keep my problems of out my awareness; I know my

coping is defined as an individual’s capacity to face and adapt to stressful situations; an

Encourage expressions of feelings such as fears, concerns. Acknowledge anxiety or fear. Be honest when answering questions or providing information.

This is a key factor to take into consideration with dealing with stress because humans viewpoints are different. Cognitive appraisal consists of two types: a primary appraisal and secondary appraisal. Primary appraisal deals with a person understanding if the stress that is caused upon them is either a threat or not. The secondary appraisal deals with what a person does after. A person will figure out what they will about the stress and will realize how harmful the stress is. The next part of the model deals with the way a person copes with a stressful situation. The way a person copes with the situation is a direct result of what they decide from both the appraisals. Some ideas of coping will involve a person leaving a stressful environment or finding a way to ignore the emotions felt. This is an example of a meaning-based

Pestonjee, and Pandey (2013) notes that “problem-focused coping refers to efforts that are directed at solving the problem at hand and includes several strategies such as seeking information talking to friend, spouse, acquiring necessary skills. Emotion-focused coping refers to attempts directed at emotions that accompany the stress. Emotion-focused coping is exhibited in behaviors such as avoidance, minimization, distancing, and selective attention, all of which work to cognitively reduce emotional distress” (p.

Complex emotional regulation style best describes my emotional development. A majority of the time I try to be positive or see the positive in negative situations. I do have problems with negative thoughts when dealing with certain individuals, but overall I try to look at situations from all perspectives and am usually more likely to give the benefit of the doubt instead of assuming the negative. The complex style allows me to be less judgmental and to attempt to gather a complete understanding of

This essay discusses coping, a complex process exercised by people to suppress, change, or eliminate stress or threat. This essay also discusses copers, that is, people who exhibit certain personality characteristics, known as distress resistant personality patterns, which can significantly influence whether they stay healthy or become ill. Also covered are coping strategies, -strategies people draw upon to solve life’s stressors, some

Coping strategies refer to the specific efforts, both behavioral and psychological, that people employ to master, tolerate, reduce or minimize stressful events. There are two general coping strategies which have been distinguished. Problem-focused strategies are efforts to do something active to alleviate stressful circumstances, where as emotion-focused coping strategies involve efforts to regulate the emotional consequences of stressful or potentially stressful events. Typically, people use both problem-focused and emotion-focused coping in their stressful episodes, which suggests that both types of coping are useful for most stressful events (Folkman & Lazarus, 1980).

It was not until the 1970s, whereby coping became a process, by which several theorists focused their research on how coping was linked to distinct outcomes (Frydenberg, 2014). These theorists focused their research primarily on how personal characteristics were antecedents of coping, evaluated how individuals coped to varied instances, and the attributes of the stressful circumstances people experienced. For instance, as a quiet person from childhood through adolescence, I coped to stressful situations through the internalization of feelings; whether

Coping is the management of a stressful event or situation. The family as a unit with no detrimental effects on any individual in that family. All around coping is using conscious effort to solve personal and interpersonal problems, and seeking to minimize or tolerate the conflict or stress. Family coping is when we use cognitive, affective, and the behavioral process by which people or their families manage together. Problem focused coping focuses on modifying or changing the fundamental cause of the stressor. The effectiveness of problem focused coping depends on whether the stressor can be managed by changing it. Emotion focused coping are strategies that are effective in the management of unchangeable stressors. Rather than changing the

Myers defines coping as an individual’s ability to “alleviate stress using emotional, cognitive, or behavioral methods” (431). I should limit myself into accomplishing tasks one at a time, so I do not stress myself out. Usually, the technique to cope with stress depends on the stressor, the individual itself and the circumstances. The strategies of problem-focused coping include taking control of my mind, understanding the situation or problem, and predicting the pros and cons for dealing with the stressor. Often times, problem-focused coping tends to establish a long-term solution for whoever is involved in the situation. Likewise, problem-focusing coping is “attempting to alleviate stress directly-by changing the stressor or the way we interact with that stressor” (Myers 431). Similarly, emotion-focused coping is “attempting to alleviate stress by avoiding or ignoring a stressor and attending to emotional needs related to one’s stress reaction” (Myers 431). My inner feelings like anger, fear, embarrassment and anxiety plays how I often cope with stressful situations. Within the past few months, I realized that if I manage my time wisely, I am able to gain better control of my

According to Richard Lazarus and Susan Folkman (1984) believe that a large number of specific coping style can be grouped into three subtype which are emotion focused coping, problem focused coping and avoidance. This first coping style which is emotion focused coping by Lazarus Folkman 1984, which can define as regulating emotional responses to problems. Emotion focused coping can be divided into two subtypes which are cognitive and behaviour. Cognitive emotion focused coping is often involved with what Lazarus and Folkman term, defensive and re-appraisals. These are ways of thinking that attempt to draw attention away from the more painful elements of a situation by reinterpreting the situation, using positive thinking to block out negative

Originally, the theory conceptualized coping efforts along two dimensions: (1) problem management; and (2) emotional regulation. Also referred to as problem-focused coping, problem-management strategies are directed at changing the stressful situation. In contrast, emotion-focused coping efforts are directed at changing the way one thinks or feels about a stressful situation (Lazarus & Cohen, 1984).