Basic coping skills

Stress Reducing and Coping Techniques

Regardless if you have a diagnosed disorder or you simply have a lot of stress in your life, these basic coping skills can help you deal with everyday stress. There are a couple general categories of basic coping skills, and many of them are easy to do at home.

Mental Activities that Reduce Stress

  • Take a break
    • do something fun or creative , like writing or drawing
  • Practice conscious relaxation
    • Lie or sit in a comfortable place, close your eyes, and concentrate on letting all of your muscles go limp. Focus your mind on a pleasant, peaceful place
  • Meditate
  • Read
  • Play a musical instrument
  • Practice deep abdominal breathing
  • Practice mindfulness

Mindfulness is a technique where a person seeks to live in the moment, paying attention to their surroundings, behaviors and thoughts. it doesn’t have a structured methodology like therapy (such as cognitive behavioral therapy), but it is an alternative to therapy and medication, and something that a person can practice on their own.

Anxiety often causes people to feel trapped in their own mind, and being told to “just relax” or “stop being anxious” does absolutely nothing. Mindfulness seeks to replace those feelings with sensations from the present. Focusing on your senses, your breathing, and letting things go are all key.

You don’t have to go into any sort of formal meditation, but there are small techniques people can use in the moment. If you feel an anxious thought, acknowledge it, then picture it drifting away. This helps prevent the thought from overwhelming you. While it sounds simply, this technique might take time to learn, so be patient with yourself.

Mindfulness and other mental techniques aren’t perfect solutions to anxiety, however that can be useful in mitigating it’s effects on your life. It takes time for some of these techniques to help, but with practice they make anxiety more manageable over time.

Sources:

https://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/MPH-Modules/PH/Stress-Resilience/Stress-Resilience3.html

https://www.choosingtherapy.com/mindfulness-for-anxiety/

 

Physical Activity

Exercise helps keep people physically healthy, but it can also help improve mental health. For people with mental health problems such as anxiety and depression, daily exercise can help. Research suggest that for people with mild-moderate depression, physical activity has a similar effect to antidepressants and cognitive-behavioral therapy.

You don’t have to go to the gym, or get a workout machine in your house to exercise. The exercises can be simple, yet still be effective. Examples include:

  • Jogging
  • Hiking
  • Going on a walk
  • Bike ride
  • Gardening
  • Dancing
  • Yoga
  • Stretching

The exercise doesn’t have to be strenuous. Even light to moderately intense workouts have been shown to help mental health by boosting a person’s mood, increasing energy levels, and it provides something else to focus on for a while. Some people even use physical activity as an outlet for frustration. Setting goals and achieving them has also been shown to boost mood.

Both people with and without mental health problems can benefit from exercise. If you are feeling stressed about something, doing something as simple as taking a walk outside can clear your head and give you something else to focus on for a while.

If you have questions or concerns about what kind of exercise is best, talk to a doctor.

Sources:

https://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/MPH-Modules/PH/Stress-Resilience/Stress-Resilience3.html

https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/exercise-and-mental-health

 

Social Support Network

personal connections and networks can help support people with mental illnesses. Maintaining relationships with trusted people such as family members, friends and co-workers is essential to combat the loneliness and isolation that mental illnesses can cause. Peers with the similar conditions are also an invaluable component to a person’s support network because they likely have similar experiences and struggles.

Peer support groups: A peer support group is a regular gathering of men and women with the lived experience of mental illness. Usually once each month, these individuals come together, overseen by a trained peer support specialist or facilitator, to talk with one another about their experiences, struggles and challenges.

Peer support groups exist for most conditions, and they offer supporting and judgement free zones. They can help people as they recover from their illnesses, and people who have been in similar situations can offer advice. Members typically offer support and advice as well as receive it from other people.

Here are some skills and tips for providing peer support:

  • Listen
    • often the best help we can give.
  • Share your knowledge
    • techniques for emotional resilience and coping techniques;
    • telling others how you got through similar problems will give them hope and ideas.
  • Giving advice,
    • presented as ideas for them to check out (What worked for one person doesn’t always work for another.)
  • Sharing information.
    • Group members may know of books, web sites, articles, or other resources that may be helpful. Or peers may be able to suggest specific people or agencies that may be useful in solving problems or reducing stress.
  • Working together to provide mutual support

Use this link to look for support groups

 

Sources:

https://www.mhanational.org/find-support-groups

https://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/MPH-Modules/PH/Stress-Resilience/Stress-Resilience3.html

https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/August-2018-/Peer-Support-Helping-Others-Healing-Yourself