Co-oping Mechanisms We Use For Survival
Life is a game of survival. With every day passing by quickly and so many things happening at the same time, we are victims of psychological stress. Events like divorce, job loss, or even death can cause most people to feel grief and stress. Come to think of it, events like marriage and buying a new house can also lead to stress. There are so many tensions that we have tied to ourselves that the combination of behavior, thought and emotion needs to be compartmentalized.
COPING STYLES AND MECHANISMS
We need to make our coping styles instrumental and emotion-focused. Problem-focused means that we deal with them in a more strategic way. We need to address issues and deal with problems in order to reduce stress, while emotion-focused mechanisms can help people handle any feelings of distress that result from the problem.
TYPES OF COPING/ SURVIVAL MECHANISMS
Among the more commonly used adaptive coping mechanisms are:
Support: Talking about a stressful event with a supportive person can be an effective way to manage stress. Seeking external support instead of self-isolating and internalizing the effects of stress can greatly reduce the negative effects of a difficult situation.
Relaxation: Any number of relaxing activities can help people cope with stress. Relaxing activities may include practicing meditation, progressive muscle relaxation or other calming techniques, sitting in nature, or listening to soft music.
Problem-solving: This coping mechanism involves identifying a problem that is causing stress and then developing and putting into action some potential solutions for effectively managing it.
Humor: Making light of a stressful situation may help people maintain perspective and prevent the situation from becoming overwhelming.
Physical activity: Exercise can serve as a natural and healthy form of stress relief. Running, yoga, swimming, walking, dancing, team sports, and many other types of physical activity can help people cope with stress and the aftereffects of traumatic events.
In our daily survival in the city and everyday life, you need to develop your own ‘healthy’ coping mechanisms which will empower you to power through.
