Emotion-Focused Coping Strategies

Everyone faces stress, both daily and from larger events. However, stress to some people may be just an inconvenience, while to others it could be debilitating. Whether or not someone may fall prey to their stress depends upon the situation, their disposition, their method of coping and the support they receive. In my own life I find that both emotion-focused coping and problem-focused coping strategies are useful. Social support, however, plays a very large role in my coping ability and helps prevent maldaptive coping strategies. Like most people I am not dominant in one aspect or the other, but a blend of both. Often when I am faced with a problem, my emotions may bubble up and cloud my judgement. A problem may lead me to feeling stressed, and the stress in turn makes it so that I am unable to alter the problem. However, in order to combat this issue, I use both …show more content…
Like many first year students I did not already have friends on campus. In a new environment, and away from my established social support, it was harder to deal with stress. Many people find the first few weeks to be a challenge due to the fact that not only are there stressors, but there is no one trusted to rely upon. Luckily, once a social network is created, the stress of a new student goes down considerably. While problem-focused coping may seem like the better strategy, because it fixes a problem, as chapter four states we must not assume one strategy is better than the other (Walsh, 2013, p.142). Each strategy has its place in people’s dealing with stress. If one were to only practice problem-focused coping they may face a serious problem when facing an unalterable stressor, such as death of a loved one. A common thread between most people is a need for community and support. Social support may be one of the most important aspects in why some people may be able to surpass stress and others are consumed by