Hello! I thought I would compile a list of healthy coping mechanisms for you all, but I also thought I would explain what coping mechanisms are and why we need them.
Just a disclaimer before I get started: I am a first year psychology student, I don’t know everything but I do know some and I have made sure to do my research before making this post.
By definition, provided by the APA, a coping mechanism is any conscious or nonconscious adaptation that helps decrease tension and anxiety in a stressful situation. In other words, a coping mechanism is a skill or strategy to help alleviate your stress or anxiety.
Coping mechanisms are linked to coping behavior and coping strategies.
However, one thing to note is that not all coping skills will work for you. The effectiveness of a coping skill is dependent on a few factors: the situation or the circumstances; the type of stress you are under; and you, the individual.
They are not only important but necessary in order to help alleviate stress. Coping strategies also give an individual some sort of control in a given situation. If an individual does not know how to cope or they do not have coping strategies, it could lead to them hurting themself because they cannot process what they are going through. They may find ways to cope that are harmful to them because they don’t know how to manage the situation they are in.
Example: an underage person begins drinking alcohol regularly to cope with their depression.
Also, having healthy coping strategies means that you realize the problem, and you want to fix it. So you’re taking active steps towards that.
Emotion-focused
Centers around the management of the emotions that accompany an individual’s stress
Problem-focused
Centers around gathering information about the source of one’s stress and then learning new skills to adapt to the problem.
Appraisal-focused
Centers around an individual changing the way they think
There are more but these are the main 3.
Substance use
Self-harm
Eating when you’re stressed
Avoidance
Lack of sleep or sleeping too much
Procrastination
Isolating oneself
Self-deprecating humor
Trying to escape the problem
This is probably the part everyone has been waiting for but I wanted to do some explaining rather than just giving you all a list of good coping skills.
Emotion-Focused:
Call or text a friend
Journaling
Write a letter to the person(s) who is upsetting you but never send it. You can do whatever you like with it afterward.
Breathing techniques (e.g., breath in for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, breath out for 4 seconds; breath in for 4 seconds, hold for 7 seconds, breathe out for 8 seconds)
Appraisal-Focused:
Write down 2-3 things you like about yourself and/or your situation, once in the morning and once at night. Or whenever you need to.
Write down positive or motivational quotes and stick them in places frequently go or look
Counteract every negative thought with a positive thought.
Other:
Go for a walk
Do something creative (e.g., draw, paint, write, sing, play an instrument, etc.)
Blow bubbles (it may seem silly but it works!)
Read
Exercise or any other kind of physical activity
Puzzles (any kind, but personally I like ones that make me think!)
netflix really dropped heartbreak high and do revenge in the same week and expect me to be normal about it
You ever have a compliment that just sticks with you for literal years and years? Maybe forever?
For me, it’s when I was working as a figure model for art classes at my university (because it paid well due to being an early-morning thing and was easy to get because nobody else wanted to apply due to the near-nakedness and pervasive body image issues in our culture). There was this one professor who was always so happy when I showed up as the female model for that day because he said that I had a “good sense of motion”, and it was fun to draw. (Which, in itself, was a great compliment because I am a clumsy, self conscious person.)
But what really got me was one day we were doing 15-minute poses, which are harder to do because you need to come up with something interesting and dynamic, but you have to be able to hold it for a quarter of an hour without moving even a little bit. They didn’t have any specific guidance for us, so I just… did something. Idk. But about five minutes into wandering around helping the students and talking to them, he paused and told me that I was doing a good job, and, “What a fun pose. You’re reminding me of Rodin’s ‘Eve,’ there. You always have a very Rodin sort of energy about you. Thanks for waking up early for us.” And then just went back to discussing the use of ink with one of the students like he hadn’t almost reduced me to tears.
Then I went home and looked up Rodin’s ‘Eve’ and was blown away because she actually did look like me? I had ended up in that pose almost exactly just by chance, but she also had a soft, squidgy tummy and the hip dips and weird butt and big feet and thunder thighs and strong calves, just like me.
And I don’t have a great relationship with my body. Very much the opposite. I frequently hate the way I look and fit into it, but then occasionally from the depths of the past comes the voice of an art nerd telling me I’m like a Rodin sculpture, and I feel like, “Yeah, I have Rodin Energy so suck it, brain!” And it helps me reframe the way I’m thinking about myself because I can get outside of my head for a minute and see that while I’m frustrated with my body, it has an art to it just by existing. Soft tummy? Fun to draw, nice curves! Big thighs? Strong lines! Dimples and wrinkles and slopes become a place for light to sit. Bodies are so cool, and that includes mine! Even if it’s not quite what I want it to be, it’s still a work of art that nature sculpted just for me.
And for him it just seemed like such an off-handed, normal, natural thing to say. He thought “Hey, that looks like Rodin,” and so he said it.
Just… Idk. Compliment people. Say what’s on your mind. You have no idea whether it’s going to totally change a person’s life. It’s just words to you but it could be really, deeply important to them.
So while looking for a photo of the in-game Sun shirt featured in the gift shops (since I’m not at my pc rn) I found these.
i can’t be the only one that thinks psy is kinda sexy
Thinking about something
You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, now in quarantine
forgive yourself. whether you fail a test, eat too many cookies, say the wrong thing, fail a class, or spend a whole day in bed — learn to forgive yourself. the next day will be better. the next day will be a day closer to your next success. you can do it.
[Image ID: A tf2 chat message from Grampus Gaming that says "She let me hit cuz I'm the thundah from down undah". End ID]
The thing is that Loid thinks of himself as a completely average normal person, which means whenever Yor has anything in common with him hes like "excellent, we are so good at being normal. I picked the perfect wife, she even knows about poisons"
Anti social chimkem men