Introduction
The simplest definition of stress is
that it comprises of factors capable of negatively affecting the well being of
a person. While stress may be healthy in motivating people: it can also be
quite unhealthy and even lead to poor performance (Holahan and Moos, 1985). Stress
can range from minor inconveniences to traumatic experiences whose impact on
the mental health of the person may be major. Stress is unavoidable and
individuals are bound to be faced with it on a regular basis. This is why it is
important to focus on ways in which one can ensure that the adverse impact of
stress is not prolonged by employing various coping strategies. Coping with
stress enables the individual maintain their health in the face of the
disconcerting factors.
The main coping approaches can be
categorised as emotion-based and problem-based (Prati, Pietratoni and
Cicognami, 2011). The strategies used depend on factors such as the nature of
the stress factors and the personality of the persons affected. In most cases,
people apply a combination of coping strategies depending on the circumstances.
Prolonged stress has a negative impact on health. This means that effectiveness
of coping strategies assures the health of the persons facing stress. The link
between coping and health are discussed in detail in the paragraphs below.
Coping strategies’ effectiveness
Stress needs to be dealt with effectively
with the effectiveness of coping approaches being dependent on both the person
and the nature of the stress factors. Riolli and Savicki (2010) enumerate
different coping strategies that can be applied by individuals. In their
findings, they established that people tend to have a range of preferred coping
strategies including denial, acceptance, active coping, suppression of
competing activities and venting emotions among others. Planning and active
coping are among the preferred approaches to coping with stress. Planning helps
one identify sources of stress and come up with strategies for coping in
advance while active coping is about proactively taking measures to remove the
factors causing the stress. Unhealthy forms of coping can include denial (Prati,
Pietratoni and Cicognami, 2011). Acceptance and mental disengagement are
approaches that can be employed where one is faced with situations that are
inevitable. These coping approaches enable the persons to remain relatively
comfortable in spite of the presence of the stress causing factors.
Riolli and Savicki (2010) sought to
prove that coping strategies are dependent on the nature of the person as by
conducting a survey featuring both soldiers and normal citizens. The distinct
differences in preferred coping strategies are as shown in the figure below.
Source:
Riolli and Savicki, 2010
Some of the coping strategies have been
found to be quite popular. Seeking emotional support from the society is one of
the main approaches used to cope with stress as proven by El-Ghoroury et al (2012) in their study on the
psychology of graduate students. Benyamini (2009) also found similar results in
a study on women with health issues where seeking for emotional support from
the society was cited as among the most popular ways of dealing with stress. Irrespective
of the popularity of the different coping strategies, the fact remains that
their effectiveness is relative.
Effectiveness of a coping strategy can
be described as the ease with which it is able to facilitate the comfort of the
individual by either getting rid of the stress factors or enabling them
tolerate them with ease. A combination of coping strategies appears to be the
best approach to coping with stress. This is because different coping
strategies deal with different elements of stress and depending on the
individual, effectiveness is realised by combining the approaches that are most
acceptable to them (Kim, Knight and Longmire, 2007). The ultimate aim is to
secure the health of the individuals by ensuring that stress is coped with as
effectively as possible.
Link between coping effectiveness
and health
Stress can lead to psychological
distress, anxiety, depression and even to the development of suicidal
behaviour. Stress is obviously a threat to the wellbeing of the individual.
El-Ghoroury et al (2012) describe
professional stress as potentially damaging and likely to result in burnout and
impairment. This places good health at the centre of coping strategies: coping
strategies must be made effective in order to assure the mental well being of
the individuals. Tendencies such as suicidal tendencies are evidence of poor
mental health. In an investigation on college students, research finding was
that students that tended to bear suicidal thoughts tended to be those with
underlying stress factors that had remained unresolved for long (El-Ghoroury et al¸2012). The same emphasis is
evident in the efforts made to ensure that soldiers cope with stress especially
after undergoing traumatic events with the failure of such approaches often
leading to mental disorder.
Traumatic stress has an obvious impact
on mental health. The near-death experiences often leave the affected persons
vulnerable and in many cases unable to maintain their mental health (Benyamini,
2009). This is where emotional support and counselling becomes important as the
traumatic experiences may be too disturbing for the affected persons to cope
with on their own. Students are always provided with counselling services in
different institutions as is the case with the rest of the society who is in a
position to seek counsel from specialists (El-Ghoroury et al¸2012). The rationale for this is that for health to be
maintained, stress must be coped with very effectively.
The interpretation of the effectiveness
of the coping mechanisms depends on the nature of the stress factors as well as
the coping goals of the individuals. Active coping mechanisms are deemed to be
effective where they succeed in removing the stress factors completely (Prati,
Pietratoni and Cicognami, 2011). The planning strategy on the other hand is
successful where the individual is able to manage his activities in a manner
that reduces conflict and stress. Seeking emotional support becomes effective
where the persons whose support is sought are able to provide the desired
comfort to the affected persons. Effectiveness is only attained if the aim of
the coping strategy is achieved. While the removal of the stress factors may
always be the best option available, the reality is that there are bound to be
sources of stress and many of them are such that they cannot be eliminated
(Riolli and Savicki, 2010).
Strategies for coping with stress must
be pragmatic and there is need to ensure that coping measures picked are those
that can lead to the desired solutions. For
instance, some stress factors could be beyond the capacity of the individual to
remove or manage through planning. This is where the individuals are advised to
adopt coping mechanisms such as acceptance. Acceptance is where the individual
acknowledges certain occurrences as undeniable realities that they must learn
to accommodate (Holahan and Moos, 1985). Failure to do that could lead to
prolonged stress which would in turn potentially lead to mental and physical
health problems.
Health is the general wellbeing of the
individual. This wellness can be mental, physical, and social. In most cases,
stress tends to be linked to mental health where the link is more direct
between stress and psychological wellbeing. When mental health deteriorates,
cases of depression and suicidal tendencies tend to be on the rise (Prati,
Pietratoni and Cicognami, 2011). This can in one way or another lead to
physical harm. Besides, physical health is also affected due to prolonged
stress. Depression could lead to acute loss of appetite and sleep and this
obviously results in poor mental health. Besides, the level of physical
activity tends to be much lower where there is stress and this negatively
affects physical wellbeing (Benyamini, 2009). This has been established in
various literatures which have related the level of physical activity to the
levels of stress that individuals are involved in. Stress also affects social
health. Social wellbeing refers to the effectiveness with which individuals relate
with one another: family, friends, acquaintances and others. The ability of the
individual to socialise and maintain healthy relationships with others is
adversely affected where the individual is exposed to unhealthy levels of
stress.
Given that there is an inverse
relationship between stress levels and health, it follows that effective coping
strategies should be having a positive relationship with health levels. The
more effective the coping strategies are, the more likely it is that they will
the individuals will be healthy.
Conclusion
Stress can both be helpful and harmful.
Good stress levels motivate performance and achievement while negative levels
of stress suppress performance and possibly lead to poor mental, physical and
social health. The latter level makes it necessary for those affected to seek
ways to cope and either eliminate the sources of stress or reduce their
negative impacts. Coping strategies are varied and their effectiveness depends
on the nature of application as well as the type of problem. There is no fixed
approach to stress mitigation. However, individuals can generate coping
strategies that work best for them. In this paper, it has been established that
toxic stress is bad for health. Coping strategies on the other hand reduce
these stress levels thereby promoting health. It can therefore be concluded
that while toxic stress inhibits good health, effective coping strategies
promote health by enabling the individuals to either eliminate the stress or
enable the individuals to live with it.
References
Benyamini,
Y (2009), Stress and coping with women’s health issues: a review from a
self-regulation perspective, European
Psychologist, 14(1): 63-71
El-Ghoroury,
N.H., Galper, D.I., Sawaqdeh, A. & Bufka, L.F (2012), Stress, coping and
barriers to wellness among psychology graduate students, Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 6(2): 122-134
Holahan,
C.J & Moos, R.H (1985), Life, stress and health: personality, coping, and
family support in stress resistance, Journal
of Personality and Social Psychology, 49(3): 739-747
Kim,
J., Knight, B.G & Longmire, C.V.F (2007), The role of familism in stress
and coping processes among African American and White dementia caregivers:
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Prati,
G., Pietratoni, L & Cicognami, E (2011), Coping strategies and collective
efficacy as mediators between stress appraisal and quality of life among rescue
workers, Sport, Exercise and Performance
Psychology, 1(S): 84-93
Riolli,
L & Savicki, V (2010), Coping effectiveness and coping diversity under
traumatic stress, International Journal
of Stress Management, 17(2): 97-113
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