By Alanna Hilbink
Coping skills. What exactly are these? Coping skills, also called coping strategies, are tools and techniques that help us deal with stress and manage our emotions. If you are recovering from mental health or addiction issues, coping strategies are essential for health and self-management. And even if you don’t have a diagnosis, coping skills are important as they lower stress and help solve problems during difficult times.
If you are recovering from mental health or addiction issues, coping strategies are essential for health and self-management.
Do I Need Healthy Coping Skills?
We all need coping skills. No matter who you are, you are going to come across challenging, unexpected, and stressful situations in life. And when you do, having healthy coping skills ready to go — skills you’ve practiced and can easily utilize — keeps small problems from getting bigger and overwhelming.
If you struggle with mental health issues like depression, anxiety, PTSD, and addiction, you’re going to need coping strategies regularly. These strategies can help you manage symptoms and stay on top of both your medical care and self-care. That said, they are not a replacement for professional treatment of any mental health or addiction issue. They are a useful, valuable set of self-management skills to supplement professional care and to continue to support recovery after primary mental health or addiction treatment has ended.
Which Coping Skills for Mental Health Work Best?
The coping strategies and techniques that will benefit you the most depend on who you are and what challenges you face. Do you have problems you need to solve or unexpected or stressful situations going on at home, at work, or in your personal life? Do your emotions take control when you’d rather they didn’t? Do you need coping skills for mental health concerns? Are you in recovery from drug, alcohol, or behavioral addictions?
All of these factors, plus your own unique personality and life experiences, will determine which coping techniques work best for you. Consider trying some basic mental and physical practices, explained below. And don’t be afraid to practice, experiment, and ask for professional guidance when getting started.
Mindfulness-Based Coping Techniques
What is mindfulness? The name can sound a bit ethereal, but the effects of meditation are real and tangible. Clinical Psychology Review found that mindfulness practices are particularly helpful in treating depression, pain, smoking, and addiction. So how do you make mindfulness work for you?
Meditation is one of the most recommended mindfulness practices. But the benefits of meditation can seem out of reach if you’ve never tried it before or don’t quite understand what you’re supposed to be doing. It’s well and good to say, Sit still, and don’t think about anything, when you don’t have kids, chores, a job, or a mind that isn’t used to just being quiet for a moment. For the rest of us, the following concrete, understandable coping techniques may help you find mindfulness and bridge the gap between being a person who doesn’t meditate to being one who does:
- Take slow, deep breaths. Deep breathing is so commonly recommended, it may seem cliché, but it is anything but. Why does deep breathing work for relaxation? Deep breathing puts you in the moment. It gets you to focus on one thing, a pattern of inhales and exhales, providing distraction and centering. Scientific Reports shares that deep breathing reduces anxiety and stress’s impact on the body. They explain that these effects may be related to the polyvagal system, a system we focus on balancing in our brain center.
- Focus on your senses. Another coping skill for stress management is focusing on your five senses. Take just a moment to really look at and see what is around you. Focus on what you smell. What you taste. What you hear, and what you physically feel.
- Count. Count slowly by multiples, by twos, threes, or fours, whatever gets you to focus on one number and then the next. Like deep breathing, this resets your thoughts and slows your physiological response to what is happening in your mind.
- Try a meditation app. While disconnecting from technology can be added to this list of ways to be more mindful and present, Clinical Psychology Review found that mindfulness apps have positive effects on mental health. So use technology wisely and at your discretion when it comes to practicing coping techniques.
- Shift your mindset. While it may or may not be a part of traditional mindfulness, positive reframing is also a helpful coping technique. Focus on feelings of love and kindness towards others and yourself. Think about two or three good things from your day — or even just one — if that’s where your brain needs to start. Mentally focus on gratefulness or start a gratitude journaling practice.
Physical Coping Skills for Self-Management
We’ve covered some of what you can do in your mind to develop healthy coping skills. Now what are some self-management skills that aren’t just in your head? One biggie is the ever-present exercise. Like taking deep breaths, it feels like this practice has been recommended ad nauseam as a way to deal with stress and balance mental health. But also like deep breathing, it’s common for a reason: It works. Exercise boosts mood and endorphin production while helping your body work through the negative physical effects of stress.
However, when you are in the thick of things, jumping into an exercise program can feel overwhelming, if not impossible. Your mental health or full schedule may make it too big of a step — or your physical health may limit your options. So like with meditation, start small. Go for a walk during your lunch break. Find some quick stretching or dance workouts on YouTube, especially those catered to your current strength and abilities. Exercise doesn’t have to take traditional cardio, weightlifting, or gym-based routes — although it certainly can! Try anything and everything that catches your interest. Don’t feel discouraged if one option doesn’t click for you. Or if you get bored in your current routine, don’t hesitate to change things up to stay interested and motivated. Keep trying until you find a way of moving that works for you, your body, and your mind.
What Are Maladaptive Coping Skills?
No matter the coping skills and strategies you try, make sure you are choosing positive and not maladaptive coping skills. Beyond simply having no coping skills, we sometimes subconsciously develop negative coping skills. We do this when we face mental health or life stress issues, or other circumstances where we don’t have the experience, knowledge, or tools to manage by ourselves. We reach for things that are immediately available and rewarding. There’s no shame in this. This isn’t a failure on your part. This is you and your brain doing the best you can with what you have. But if you fail to recognize these maladaptive coping skills or reach out for professional support to learn how to replace them with healthy coping skills, you can get stuck in destructive patterns that make your mental health worse instead of better. What are some negative coping skills? Consider the following:
- Sleeping too much or too little
- Eating too much, too little, or primarily nutritionally poor food
- Focusing on the negative through constant complaining, venting, or thought loops
- Using healthy coping skills to avoid thinking about or doing things that need to be faced and addressed
- Using drugs or alcohol
- Compulsively checking your phone or apps
- Engaging in addictive behaviors like shopping, gambling, and using porn
How do we develop good coping techniques while avoiding negative ones? As with everything mental health, and in life in general, you never have to figure this out alone.
Developing Coping Techniques at The Meadows Texas
So there are healthy coping skills and there are unhelpful or maladaptive coping skills. How do we develop good coping techniques while avoiding or repairing negative ones? As with everything mental health, and in life in general, you never have to figure this out alone. The Meadows Texas is here to set you up for lifelong success. Let our professionals guide you as you replace substance use with positive life skills and coping strategies. We’re here to help you reset your mental health and find the tools that work for you. No matter where you are in your journey to wellness, The Meadows Texas offers support, education, and deep and lasting healing at our private, nature-focused location. Reach out today to learn more.