Coping with stress

Coping is a dynamic, situation-specific reaction to stress: our efforts to solve the problem and reduce the stress it causes. It is not a fixed trait; it can change and be learned.

Endler and Parker described three coping strategies:

• Task-oriented: getting information, planning, and acting to solve the problem.
• Emotion-oriented: managing feelings: venting, seeking comfort, or wishful thinking.
• Avoidance-oriented: denying or playing down the seriousness of the situation, distracting oneself.

Lazarus and Folkman described two kinds:

• Problem-focused coping: attack the problem itself: make a study timetable, talk to the teacher, change the situation.
• Emotion-focused coping: limit the emotional distress without changing the event: relaxation, talking to a friend, seeing the situation differently.

Problem-focused coping works best when the situation can be changed; emotion-focused coping when it cannot.

Stress management techniques:

• Relaxation: tensing and relaxing muscles in turn, slow deep breathing.
• Meditation: focusing attention to calm the mind.
• Biofeedback: using instruments to give feedback about one's current physiological activity (heart rate, muscle tension), so one learns to control it. It has three stages: becoming aware of the response, learning to control it in calm conditions, then using that control in daily life.
• Creative visualisation: imagining a calm scene or a successful outcome.
• Stress inoculation training, developed by Donald Meichenbaum: replacing negative thoughts ('I will fail') with positive ones ('I can do this step by step'), like a vaccine against stress.
• Exercise: at least four times a week, for 30 minutes each time.