English Banner
Coping (continued)
3. Additional Information
Models of Coping
There are many models of the coping process and psychologists agree that it involves a series of stages. These begin with identifying a threat, for one cannot cope with something that is not recognized, except serendipitously. Next, most models of coping refer to a process of appraisal: an assessment of the severity of the threat, and of our resources available to handle it. There are different ways of appraising threats, and experience plays a major role here. Next, a response is implemented and the effects are evaluated by returning to the appraisal process in a circular loop. This is illustrated in Figure 1.
The time frame is very varied. Coping with an insult may be extremely rapid and automatic (even if later regretted!) Coping with marital discord may take months or even years, and involve numerous attempts to apply different strategies. The process often begins unconsciously and may only become conscious if the threat is not readily resolved. Typically a person feels tense or uneasy but may not be able to describe what is wrong. If initial coping attempts do not resolve the tension, however, and if there are successive circuits around the coping loop, the person becomes more conscious of the process as their concern mounts. This is similar to immune reactions: symptoms reflect failed attempts to cope with an infection.
Antonovsky brought a sociologist’s perspective in Health, stress and coping. (Jossey-Bass, 1980). He observed that many people are exposed to pathogens but but few get sick. He proposed a model of resistance & susceptibility that depends on "generalised resistance resources". These seek to resolve problems (rather then Selye’s holding process). GRRs may refer to a person or a group of people. They include: physical factors (cf. Dubos), material resources (wealth), information (knowledge is power), emotional flexibility (cf. emotional intelligence),
Coping Responses
There is immense variety in the coping responses of humans; indeed, one of our endearing characteristics is our ability to invent bizarre and even self-destructive coping styles. Each person's style of coping reflects their personality and describes their enduring approach to handling life experiences. A typical contrast would be between the person who copes with challenges passively by avoiding situations or denying them, and coping based on more active confrontation and tackling of situations. Within general styles of coping, particular tactics are as varied as people themselves. Not only do we each have a characteristic approach to handling challenging situations, but the size and diversity of our repertories of coping responses also varies. Some people seem able to handle virtually any circumstance, while most are comfortable with a much narrower range of situations. Some perennially use the same type of approach; others can be remarkably resourceful in finding different ways to handle situations.
Figure 2 illustrates a hypothetical model in which a person draws on successively deeper levels of experience in inventing a way to cope with a situation that does not go away. We can debate this model in class. In a first phase (which could represent several loops around the circuit in Figure 1), the person applies familiar, "tried and true" coping strategies. Their level of concern and distress rises with each failure; there is an exaggeration of emotions which begins to appear uncomfortable; aspects of "nervousness." If and when these fail to resolve the situation, the person is forced to resort to rarely used strategies; this increases the level of apprehension and therefore of distress. Should these coping strategies also fail, they must dig deeper and resort to tactics they have not tried, although may have heard of others using in similar situation. This is new territory, and the level of apprehension rises further. The ego responds with a second order of regulating devices, characterized by a partial detachment from the world of reality: withdrawal, fantasies, etc. These may be followed by outbursts of violence, anger, etc. If even this is unsuccessful, the person must innovate, and invent a totally new coping approach. The level of stress is high, and the likelihood of success smaller.
Now, a crucial theme of this model is that the height of the bars illustrates the size of the person’s coping repertoire at each stage. The hypothesis is that a person who has had varied life experiences (e.g., has travelled, held many jobs, met many people) will tend to have accumulated a broader repertoire of coping styles than a person with less experience. This may contribute to explaining the association of socioeconomic status and health if, indeed, higher SES is associated with a broader range of coping strategies.
Evaluating Coping
While we may judge that a person does not cope well with difficult situations, no coping strategy seems wholly good or bad; following evolutionary principles, perennially useless styles should die out with their users. (Note the humorous annual "Darwin Awards" on the internet, awarded to the most idiotic people whose removal from the gene pool is held to benefit everyone). Active or passive styles may suit different circumstances; each may also work well in the short term but not on a long term basis.
There are many possible taxonomies of coping strategies, but a common distinction is between practical strategies which seek to deal with the situation, and cognitive strategies which seek to handle the symptoms of emotional distress that arise. Alternative terms are behavioural and emotional coping. Intuitively, there seems to be a gender difference in predominant coping styles, and the discovery that "Men are from Mars, women are from Venus" may reflect this (although we may wish to debate the fuller implication of links with Zodiac signs!) Both behavioural and emotional coping may be classified along the dimension of confrontation versus avoidance which is also commonly called active or passive coping or even control versus helplessness (the terms differ).
Some examples of coping strategies are given in the following table; you may wish to discuss this and fill in the blanks
Active
Passive
Behavioural
Emotional
Behavioural
Emotional
Exam
study hard; ensure adequate rest
express your concern to friends; (take medications?)
sleep a lot; watch movies to take your mind off it
complain to friends
Lousy teacher
make suggestions; contribute to improving course
discuss with counsellor how important the *&*# course is anyway
wait until end of term and give teacher a lousy rating
look glum in class
Personal conflicts
leave the person (giving no forwarding address)
talk to friends; seek counselling
Insufficient income
Chronic health problem
Many authors delight in taxonomies of coping responses. I am less impressed by this, but here are a few examples:
- use of alcohol, drugs
- daydreaming, escapism
- trying to see the humorous side of the situation
- sleeping more (the teenage response to school)
- use of food or food substitutes (chewing gum, smoking)
- getting prepared to expect worst
- curse & carry on bad
- get busy with other activities to take mind off the situation
- crying
- talk it out with friends; seek social support
- work feelings off by physical exercise
- information seeking: find out more about situation; make alternative plans for handling situation
- take some definite action on basis of your understanding, drawing on past experiences
Cognitive coping: mind games
- make positive comparisons ("We were worse off under the previous government")
- selective ignoring; denial. There's a hierarchy:
first order denial = denial of facts, avoiding speaking about or seeking facts;
second order denial = denial of feelings and refusal to perceive oneself as sick. Orr found first order denial to be associated with poor adjustment following a diagnosis of breast cancer; second order denial was associated with positive adjustment. There have been similar findings in the cardiac rehabilitation literature (Orr E. Open communication as an effective stress management method for breast cancer patients. J Hum Stress 1986;12:175-185.)
- optimistic faith; belief in supernatural power who cares about you
- rejection (feel yourself the victim of an unjust situation)
- try to exert control (become an agent facing a challenge)
- resignation (feeling powerless and events externally determined by fate)
- avoidance and postponing confrontation
- minimization or negation (view yourself as secure and the situation as non-threatening)
Humour
A sense of humour is notoriously valuable in coping with adversity. Perhaps self-deprecating humour is most effective, for it reduces the need to protect the ego from reality. Personal humour deflects self-pity, which is a corrosive emotion. Consider this letter to the Ottawa Citizen, written by a man suffering from Tourette's syndrome. He illustrates the use of a factual understanding of his condition, laced with a good dose of humour:
"Most people know nothing about Tourette's syndrome, and I was one of them until three years ago. Tourette's makes the body and mind do and say things you don't want them to do. It is caused by your body producing too much dopamine, which blocks your nerve network to your brain.
In my case, Tourette's consists of cursing out loud, head shaking, hand trembling and severe panic attacks. It isolates you; it's very hard to go to restaurants or get on a bus. I have often been asked to leave some of these premises. (...) Job interviews are terrible, if you manage to even get there. Sometimes you are just too panic-stricken to leave your apartment. And if you do get there, you don't make a great first impression.
Sometimes I cannot even get to my mail box, which is only 20 feet away. At least