Coping mechanisms for stress

Identify and explain research on effective coping mechanisms for stress. How do you believe these would help you in your everyday life?

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Topic 2 DQ 1
Allen and Leary (2010) proposed that to deal with stress, a person can practice self-compassion, and it involves three features: mindfulness, common humanity, and self-kindness. The major goal of self-compassion is to reassure oneself when they make an error. Other approaches to coping with stress include escape and avoidance, distraction, obtaining professional support, and positive cognitive restructuring (Allen & Leary, 2010). Hofmann and Hay (2018) reported that although avoidance is a maladaptive behavior, it can be used to improve a person’s sense of control in patients suffering from anxiety disorders coping mechanisms for stress.. I am particularly interested in the relationship between two approaches, namely positive cognitive restructuring and self-compassion.According to Allen and Leary (2010), individuals who exhibit high levels of self-compassion are more likely to consider difficult circumstances positively than those who have low self-compassion. I will apply this concept by ensuring that whenever I receive an unsatisfactory grade, I will use coping mechanisms of positive reinterpretation and acceptance to manage the failure effectively. Additionally, it is important to determine the cause of an undesirable outcome. Hofmann and Hay (2018) proposed that by confronting the threat, a person is able to prevent the repetitive occurrence of the negative situation in the future. Therefore, I will determine the cause of a stressful event and develop methods of dealing with the problem appropriately.

Self-compassionate individuals have a high likelihood of taking accountability for their actions (Allen & Leary, 2010). The authors also proposed that while it is also important for people to be self-critical, self-attacking tendencies should be avoided. By owning up to my mistakes, I will be able to identify areas where I need to change. Additionally, positive cognitive restructuring will enable me to improve my thinking patterns. Some of the other methods that I will use to cope with stress include questioning my assumptions, gathering evidence, and determining alternative approaches to dealing with the current problem. coping mechanisms for stress.

References

Allen, A. B., & Leary, M. R. (2010). Self‐compassion, stress, and coping. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 4(2), pp. 107-118.

Hofmann, S. G., & Hay, A. C. (2018). Rethinking avoidance: Toward a balanced approach to avoidance in treating anxiety disorders. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 55, pp. 14-21.

Topic 2 DQ 1

Before identifying and explaining specific effective coping mechanisms for stress, I feel it is important to make note of the following statistic included by Burger (2011) in our textbook: “Not only did anxiety scores rise throughout the five decades, but by the 1980s the average American child reported higher levels of anxiety than child psychiatric patients in the 1950s” (p. 124) coping mechanisms for stress.. Given the upward trend, I can imagine that the levels would only be higher now in 2020, especially with the contribution of social media and the inception of the coronavirus! Now, the first coping mechanism that Burger (2011) lists is repression-sensitization (p. 128). This is basically where people exposed to a stressful event will either try not to think of and avoid the situation (repress) or approach the situation head-on and proactively act on the situation (sensitize). Personally, I have difficulty practicing the second one as I am more apt to avoid conflicts and, on the contrary, fixate on my anxiety instead of coming to a constructive, proactive solution. Sensitization (not to be confused with desensitization, which is the complete opposite of the spectrum and related to horror films) is definitely something I could practice. This notion is supported by Burger when he states that in almost every case, active strategies are more effective in helping people cope with stressors than avoidance strategies (2011, p. 129) coping mechanisms for stress.. Other coping mechanisms mentioned are problem-focused strategies, which are intended to take care of the problem and thereby overcome the anxiety, and emotion-focused strategies, which are designed to reduce the emotional distress that accompanies. This is not the first time I have heard of either strategy, and I have utilized them during several instances of my life. I have used problem-focused strategies when I did not know exactly how to proceed regarding a certain assignment in a class, and I used emotion-focused strategies when I got rejected from ASU School of Music to show how maybe, there was a good reason why I did not get a spot and was instead led to start my college experience at GCC (which I absolutely loved). Therefore, both types of strategies have helped me, and I see no reason why the other one, sensitization, could not help.

Burger, J.M. (2011). Personality, 8th instructor’s ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. coping mechanisms for stress.