Coping Strategies
Part 5 - Different types of coping strategies

Getting good quality and regular sleep can be the difference between health and ill-health, coping and not-coping.

We often tense up in stressful situations, reducing the intake of air rather than the much more beneficial method of breathing deeply. Breathing can give us clarity, helping to relax us and release stuck emotions.

What is it about the act of laughing that has the power to alter our mood and make our brains and body feel lighter?

Talking, singing, telling stories, screaming, wailing, yelping, howling and growling. Many people find using the full range of their voice both rewarding and liberating.

We all need physical contact. We can get this from being stroked or having a massage. We can also self-soothe through brushing our hair or applying facial cream. For relief and comfort, you can also tap different parts of your body such as the thymus gland in your neck.

Some people use drugs of this type in order to function, to be more alert, to enhance their mood and attain bursts of short-term pleasure.

These reduce stimulation, calm us, slow down our heart rate and help us to relax and get us to sleep.

One of the most powerful ways in which we can alter or enhance our mood is through sounds – rhythms, beats, melodies, harmonies – that sympathetically match our own bodily vibrations.

These are things we carry around that we can use at any time to help us recover from stress. Items may include a phone, a book, a chocolate bar, water, etc.

There is scientific evidence that performing repetitive or rhythmic actions has the ability to lower blood pressure and tension in our muscles: whether it be knitting, sewing, rocking, running, colouring in, etc.

While the words themselves may sound destructive, many people use methods such as cutting, ice cubes and elastic bands as a way of managing intense pain or of being able to reconnect with their world, when previously they have felt disconnected with themselves and their bodies.

Sometimes a lack of physical action, of movement, of exerting energy, can have a negative impact on one’s health. Exercise can give people a sense of health, purpose and achievement.

Some people use sex as a coping strategy, by reaching an orgasm to help release pentup frustrations and tensions and manage their emotions.

Some people survive trauma and abuse by separating or splitting from themselves, in order to avoid the horror of what is happening. This same action can also occur after the event(s), when a person feels they are being threatened in some way.

A simple way to cope is to avoid the problem: hide the bills and face the music later. Remain undecided so that you don’t have to make the decision. Become anxious and fearful so you don’t have to face the world. Become depressed so that you don’t have to think or feel very much.