Coping with stress

The essentials

Coping is a dynamic, situation-specific reaction to stress: a set of concrete responses to stressful situations. Endler and Parker described three coping strategies: task-oriented (getting information, planning and acting on the problem), emotion-oriented (managing feelings, venting, wishful thinking or efforts to maintain hope) and avoidance-oriented (denying or minimising the seriousness of the situation). Lazarus and Folkman distinguished problem-focused coping (changing the stressful situation) from emotion-focused coping (changing how one feels about it).

Key points

Stress management techniques:

• Relaxation techniques: reduce physical symptoms; for example, progressive muscle relaxation working from the lower to the upper body, with deep breathing.
• Meditation: learnt focusing of attention that changes awareness and reduces physiological arousal.
• Biofeedback: monitoring and reducing physiological aspects of stress using feedback about current activity (for example heart rate or muscle tension).
• Creative visualisation: imagining a calm scene or a desired outcome.
• Cognitive behavioural techniques: such as stress inoculation training (Meichenbaum), which replaces negative, irrational thoughts with positive coping thoughts through assessment, stress reduction techniques and application with follow-through.
• Exercise: aerobic exercise such as brisk walking, swimming or cycling improves fitness and reduces stress.
• Stress-resistant personality: Kobasa's hardiness includes the three Cs — commitment (to work and family), control (sense of purpose and direction) and challenge (seeing change as normal and a chance to grow).

Exam tips

• Remember: solving the problem = task- or problem-focused; changing feelings = emotion-focused; denying = avoidance.

Common mistakes

• Thinking emotion-focused coping is always bad; it is useful when the situation cannot be changed.