Coping With Stress

Coping with Stress n Stressors are pervasive in our lives. n Reducing stress can be accomplished by either avoiding stressors or by reducing our response to stressors. n Coping: managing stress in some effective way –Emotion-focused forms of coping change how we view a situation (our reaction). Includes defense mechanisms –Problem-focused forms of coping deal directly with the stressor to eliminate it.

Direct coping – either positive or negative. Lazarus & Folkman (1988) n Problem-focused coping may include confrontation, compromise or withdrawal n Emotion-focused coping may include: –Meditation / Relaxation –Exercise –Social Support: Gilles et al. (2005), Taylor (2002) –Taking drugs/alcohol (escape)

Defensive coping n Defense mechanisms: Self-deceptive techniques for reducing stress n Considered a sub-category of emotion- focused coping –May be positive in the short term but generally not helpful in the long term

Defense mechanisms n Denial: Refusal to acknowledge a painful or threatening reality. n Repression: Excluding uncomfortable thoughts, feelings, and desires from consciousness. n Projection: Attributing one’s repressed motives, feelings, or wishes to others.

Defense mechanisms n Identification: Taking on the characteristics of someone else to avoid feeling incompetent. n Regression: Reverting to childlike behavior and defenses. n Intellectualization: Thinking abstractly about stressful problems as a way of detaching oneself from them.

Defense mechanisms n Reaction formation: Expression of exaggerated ideas and emotions that are the opposite of one’s repressed beliefs or feelings. n Displacement: Shifting repressed motives and emotions from an original object to a substitute object. n Sublimation: Redirection repressed motives and feelings into more socially acceptable channels.

Factors which mitigate stress n Feelings of control (executive rat) (Weiss 1977) n Predictability (bombings - WWI London) (Stewart 1942) n Outlets for frustration (rat chewing bar) n Social connectedness (support network) n Perception of improvement or decline of conditions (parents of children with a 25% chance of death from cancer) (Wolff 1964)

Stress management in popular culture n One stress management strategy is summarized in Reinhold Niebuhr’s Serenity Prayer, used by Alcoholics Anonymous (among others): n God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference

Stress management in culture n Similarly, a Quaker prayer suggests: n In the face of strong winds, let me be a blade of grass. In the face of strong walls, let me be a gale of wind.