Many Ways of Coping
Coping is the process of responding effectively to problems and challenges. To cope well is to respond to the threat in ways that minimize its damaging impact.Coping can involve many different strategies and it’s likely you have your own preferred ones. These strategies can be classified in many ways, but a key distinction is between problem-focused and emotion-focused strategies.
Problem-focused coping involves actively engaging with the outside world. This might mean making action plans, seeking further information about a threat, or confronting an adversary.
Emotion-focused coping, in contrast, is directed inward, attempting to change how we respond emotionally to stressful events and conditions, rather than to change them at their source.
Effective emotion-focused strategies include meditation, humor, and reappraising difficulties to find benefits.
Which is best?
Neither of these coping strategies is intrinsically more or less effective than the other. Both can be effective for different kinds of challenges.Coping Strategies During the Pandemic
Physical activity and experiencing nature can offer some protection from depression during the pandemic. One study even points to the benefits of birdwatching.How Well Am I Coping?
We should be able to assess how well we are coping with the pandemic by judging how we’re going compared to our previous normal.Think of yourself this time last year. Are you drinking more, sleeping poorly, or experiencing fewer positive emotions and more negative emotions now?
If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then compared to your previous normal, your coping may not be as good as it could be. But before you judge your coping critically, it’s worth considering a few things.
The pandemic may be shared, but its impacts have been unequal.
If you live alone, are a caregiver, or have lost work, the pandemic has been a larger threat for you than for many others. If you’ve suffered more distress than others, or more than you did last year, it doesn’t mean you have coped less well—you may have just had more to cope with.
Experiencing some anxiety in the face of a threat like COVID-19 is justified. Experiencing sadness at separation from loved ones under lockdown is also inevitable. Suffering doesn’t mean maladjustment.
In fact, unpleasant emotions draw our attention to problems and motivate us to tackle them, rather than just being signs of mental fragility or not coping.
We should, of course, be vigilant for serious problems, such as thoughts of self-harm, but we should also avoid pathologizing ordinary distress. Not all distress is a symptom of a mental health problem.
Coping isn’t all about how we feel. It’s also about action and finding a sense of meaning and purpose in life, despite our distress. Perhaps if we’ve sustained our relationships and done our jobs passably during the pandemic, we have coped well enough, even if we have sometimes been miserable.
Social distancing and lockdowns have left us with a reduced coping repertoire. Seeking emotional and practical support from others, also known as “social coping,” is made more difficult by pandemic restrictions. Without our usual supports, many of us have had to cope with one arm tied behind our backs.