Coping Mechanisms

Explanations > Behaviors > Coping Mechanisms

We are complex animals living complex lives in which we are not always able to cope with the difficulties that we face. As a result, we are subject to feelings of tension and stress, for example the cognitive dissonance and potential shame of doing something outside our values. To handle this discomfort we use various coping methods.

Here are coping mechanisms by type:

Here is a full list of coping mechanisms:

Other articles on coping:

So what?

To help people cope, find ways to let them safely let go of the stress that they experience or gain a greater understanding of the situation.

Remember that coping actions are usually symptoms of deeper problems and addressing them directly can be ineffective or even counter-productive. The best approach is to discover the deeper cause and address this, which will hopefully then result in the coping mechanism disappearing.

Be aware of your own coping mechanisms and move to more functional means of managing stress.

If you are using deliberate theatrical methods during persuasion, feigning a coping mechanism makes it harder for the other person to broach an apparently stressful situation for you.

See also

Defense Mechanisms, Theories about how we handle discomfort, Theories about resistance, Concepts in psychoanalysis, The K?ler-Ross grief cycle, Games, Resisting persuasion, Personality Disorders, Blame, Lying