COPING MECHANISMS &

OTHER COGNITIONS FOR A

BALANCED MIND

IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL
SUPPORT

MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELOR

ALIA ASAD ALAM
WHAT ARE COPING MECHANISMS

The patterns and behaviors

we fall back on to try to deal
with unusually stressful
situations.
 WHY DO WE NEED THEM

We lean on these strategies

to keep ourselves calm
until we adjust to the
change
 5 GENERAL TYPES OF COPING MECHANISMS

Problem-focused coping strategy

Emotion-focused coping
Social support coping strategy
Religious based coping strategy
Meaning - making coping strategy
 PROBLEM FOCUSED COPING STRATEGY

 Instrumental action
Behaviors and cognitions aimed at solving the
problem, such as:
 seeking information
 taking direct action
 breaking the problem down into more manageable
pieces, a strategy referred to as “chunking”
 Sometimes, delaying or suppressing action can be a
useful problem-focused strategy, till the immediate
anger and frustration calms down
 EMOTION FOCUSED COPING STRATEGY

Aimed at managing one’s emotions in face of adversity

& managing one’s emotional response to the problem.
Good coping
 Expressing emotion through journals or writing
 Emotional support through friends, family or therapist
Bad coping
 Avoidance
 Withdrawal
 Volatile expression of emotion
 Use of ingestibles’
 SOCIAL SUPPORT COPING STRATEGY

Social support involves seeking both emotional and

concrete aid from others or advice.
The outcome of these types of coping strategies often
depends on the social context.
For example
confiding in others after a trauma is generally
associated with better outcomes, but if the confidant
responds negatively, emotional distress may be
increased.
RELIGIOUS COPING STRATEGY

It can contains elements of social support or problem-

focused and emotion-focused coping, and it seeks to
conserve or transform meaning in the face of adversity.
Good coping
 Faith
 Trust
 Belief in ultimate help
Bad coping
 Sense of punishment
 Sense of unfairness
 Sense of being deserted
 “ MEANING-MAKING,” STRATEGY

Also called “Cognitive reappraisal” :

involves trying to see the positive or meaningful aspects of the
situation, especially with severe or chronic stressors.
 Avoid “Why me?” declarations
 Focus on the bigger picture
Work towards realizing how a problem fits into the larger pattern
of one’s life
this is a painful process
but in the end may be one way
in which individuals grow from stressful or traumatic experiences
 Models of Coping
 Specific coping strategies (e.g., 'think of different ways to solve the
problem,' 'tell myself it doesn't matter') are generally grouped into a
variety of coping subtypes to describe categories of adolescents' coping
responses. Examples of common subtypes are problem solving,
information seeking, cognitive restructuring, emotional expression or
ventilation, distraction, distancing, avoidance, wishful thinking,
acceptance, seeking social support, and denial. But, coping strategies are
not viewed simply as a large collection of possible responses to stressors
with arbitrary groupings. Rather, coping subtypes, and even broader
dimensions that comprise sets of these subtypes, are derived based on
conceptual models of coping. Researchers then use statistical techniques
such as 'factor analysis' to determine whether the conceptual model that
groups together coping subtypes is appropriate. We now examine the most
common models of coping that have been applied in the adolescent coping
 A more recent and comprehensive model, the Responses to Stress model,
developed by Bruce Compas and colleagues, distinguishes among three major
coping dimensions, with each dimension comprised of more specific coping
subtypes. The first dimension is voluntary coping (i.e., coping responses that
involve conscious effort, e.g., problem solving, cognitive restructuring) versus
involuntary coping (i.e., temperamentally based and conditioned reactions, e.g.,
emotional numbing, rumination, intrusive thoughts). The second dimension
involves responses of engagement (i.e., responses directed toward a stressor or
one's reaction to a stressor, e.g., problem solving) versus disengagement (i.e.,
responses directed away from a stressor or one's reaction to a stressor, e.g.,
distraction). Voluntary coping responses can be distinguished further along a third
dimension: primary control coping strategies (i.e., those strategies aimed at
directly altering objective conditions, e.g., problem solving, emotional expression)
versus secondary control coping strategies (i.e., those strategies focused on
adaptation to the problem, e.g., acceptance, cognitive restructuring). Voluntary
coping responses within this framework are viewed as goal-directed efforts to
maintain, increase, or alter one's control over the environment or the self.
As coping models have become more elaborated,
coping research is continuously moving toward the
view of coping as a multifaceted process instead of
coping subtypes as mutually exclusive categories.
Recent coping research also reflects awareness that
coping with a stressor is a dynamic process that
involves flexibility in strategies across the coping
process, depending on the current demands of the
situation.