17 Nov HOW TO KNOW WHAT COPING STRATEGY IS RIGHT FOR YOU, ACCORDING TO PSYCHOLOGISTS
via Inverse by Nick Haslam
Research suggests they’re largely correct. Surveys in Australia, the UK, and the USA point to rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thinking substantially higher than in previous years.
But over time, people have changed how they have responded to the threat of Covid-19. Google searches have shifted from the harm of the pandemic itself to ways of dealing with it, such as exercising and learning new skills.
This pivot points to a new focus on coping with Covid-19.
MANY WAYS OF COPING
Coping is the process of responding effectively to problems and challenges. To cope well is to respond to the threat in ways that minimize its damaging impact.
Coping can involve many different strategies and it’s likely you have your own preferred ones. These strategies can be classified in many ways, but a key distinction is between problem-focused and emotion-focused strategies.
What’s the difference?
Problem-focused coping involves actively engaging with the outside world. This might mean making action plans, seeking further information about a threat, or confronting an adversary.
Emotion-focused coping, in contrast, is directed inward, attempting to change how we respond emotionally to stressful events and conditions, rather than to change them at their source.
Effective emotion-focused strategies include meditation, humor, and reappraising difficulties to find benefits.
Less effective emotion-focused strategies include seeking distractions, denial, and substance use. Although these tactics may stave off distress in the short term, they neither address its causes nor prevent its longer-term effects.
Which is best?
Neither of these coping strategies is intrinsically more or less effective than the other. Both can be effective for different kinds of challenges…
… keep reading the full & original article HERE
#happiness #happy #happier #cope #coping #strategy #strategies #psychology