Coping skills

What are coping strategies and why do we need them?

Coping skills (also called coping strategies or coping mechanisms) are tools and techniques you can use to help you handle difficult emotions, decrease stress, and establish or maintain a sense of internal order. They can be helpful to use when you’re feeling angry, anxious, sad, stressed, overwhelmed, or even when you're feeling well, to help you stay level.

It’s important to understand that coping skills look differently for different people and work differently based on the situation or circumstance. What works for your friend or your neighbor might not work for you, and vice versa. Developing a group of effective coping skills may mean learning more about yourself and getting curious about what helps you and what doesn't. Often, we have to go through some trial and error to figure out which coping skills work best for us. This can mean exploring lots of different ways of dealing with various situations, and holding onto the ones that work and throwing out the ones that don't. It also means testing out new coping skills in less intense situations before testing them out in more intense situations.

Not all coping skills are created equal. Sometimes, it’s tempting to engage in strategies that will give quick relief but might create bigger problems for you down the road. It’s important to establish healthy coping skills that will help you reduce your emotional stress or rid yourself of the stressful situations you face. it is important to explore strategies to find out what works best for you.