29.

Discuss the strategies to cope with stress giving examples.

Coping is a dynamic, situation-specific reaction to stress. It is a set of concrete responses to stressful situations that are intended to resolve the problem and reduces stress. Endler and Parker gave following Coping Strategies: 

1. Task-oriented Strategy:

• It is goal management through confrontation with the problem.
• This involves obtaining information about the stressful situation and making the best use of resources available.
• It also involves prioritising and acting so as to deal directly with the stressful situation.
• Mostly it is used by optimists.

Task-oriented strategies are particularly effective when the resources in the environment are within the control of the individual. It is a cognitive response to stress.

2. Emotion-oriented Strategy:

• It is emotion management.
• This strategy involves efforts to maintain hope and to control one's emotions. Individual works on his emotions rather than situations and goals.
• This mainly happens when the stressful event is such that it can not be manipulated in any way eg. loss of a spouse or a family member.
• The individual deals with his emotions of anxiety, helplessness, hopelessness etc. and tries to gain hope and happiness again in his life.
• It can also involve venting feelings of anger and frustration or decide that nothing can be done to change things.
• Emotion oriented strategies are particularly effective when the resources in the environment are beyond the controlled of the individual.

3. Avoidance–riented strategy:

• It is avoiding stressful event by indulging in different activities. The individual does not want to accept that he is facing such a stressful situation.
• This involves denying or minimising the seriousness of the situation.
• It also involves conscious suppression of stressful thoughts and their replacement by self-protective thoughts.
• Watching T.V., attending parties or going to sleep is an example of this type of coping.
• It is basically escapism by using defence mechanisms.

According to Lazarus and Folkman, coping responses can be divided into two types of responses:

(a) Problem-Focused:

• It includes taking direct action to solve the problem.
• It is seeking information that will be relevant to the solution for, e.g., developing a study schedule to cope up with the semester demands and thereby reduce examination pressure.
• It is basically confronting with the problem using all the available resources.

(b) Emotion-Focused: It refers to the reduction of the negative emotional reaction to stress. e.g., by distracting oneself from the problem, relaxing or seeking comfort from others.