Stress is something common among people. The problems someone can face every day, such as exams, financial problems, unexpected difficult situations, problems at work or school, with coworkers, or even with family, can be stressful. But the difference is how someone approaches these situations. Maybe the person will look at and explore the options they have, take a pause, breathe, and then act. Alternatively, they will act impulsively or avoid the problem entirely. But what is the difference between those approaches?
Understanding What Coping Mechanisms Are
How people react to stress differs among people. Some people might actively try to solve the problem, seek emotional support, or distract themselves with something for a short time. That is what a coping mechanism looks like. A coping mechanism implies the cognitive, emotional, and behavioural strategies people use to manage stressful situations and their consequences. But how effective they are for anyone can be determined by the situation, the person, and the flexibility of the strategy used (Stanislawski, 2019).
Using the Coping Circumplex Model, it can be understood how coping involves two important tasks. Coping involves managing the problem and regulating emotions. For example, managing a problem can happen by using strategies such as problem-solving, while regulating emotions can involve using emotion regulation strategies when circumstances are not easily changed. On the other hand, there are less adaptive strategies such as helplessness, problem avoidance, and disengagement (Stanislawski, 2019).
The Active Option: Healthy Coping Mechanisms
Going deeper into one of the adaptive coping mechanisms, one of the strategies considered a healthy coping mechanism is problem-solving. This strategy can be used when facing a problem that someone considers solvable. What someone does when using problem-solving skills, someone divides the problem into doable steps and then takes action. This strategy is associated with psychological well-being (Pretorius & Padmanabhanunni, 2023).
Another effective coping mechanism is managing emotions. Within this, the mechanism of cognitive reappraisal can be found, which involves changing how we interpret an emotionally challenging situation. On the other hand, something called expressive suppression can be found, which involves inhibiting external signs of emotion. In research, cognitive reappraisal is associated with fewer stress-related symptoms, but expressive suppression was associated with stress-related symptoms that could include anxiety, depression, and PTSD symptoms (Moore et al., 2008).
An outside, more active strategy to regulate the stress response is physical activity. A review of 42 studies found that exercise, particularly aerobics, was associated with an improvement in well-being and could potentially reduce distress (Elkington et al., 2017). Exercise can be an improvement for physical health, support outdoor activities, and help with mental health.
Finally, a way to manage stressful experiences can be looking for social support. For a person, relationships can provide emotional reassurance, practical assistance, or a sense of companionship in the face of problems. Hostinar et al. (2015) viewed social relationships as able to reduce stress. But having close friends and confidants is not the only factor that matters. Also, it was found that the quality of relationships can increase (stressful relationships) or reduce (supportive relationships) the levels of stress.
Not Dealing with It: Coping and Avoidance
One known way to deal with problems involves not dealing with the problem itself or the distress caused. Avoidance coping can be understood as responses such as denial, wishful thinking, escape (social) withdrawal, distancing, distraction, and any form of emotional and mental disengagement (Livneh, 2019). Avoidance is not negative by itself; one useful way to use it is as a timeout in a stressful situation or to take a step away from a problem before responding to it. People may face problems when they habitually avoid situations that require them to take action.
A review of research found that people who mainly relied on avoidance as a coping mechanism showed poorer psychosocial adaptation (Livneh, 2019). And it’s important to note that not only can avoidance become a repetitive pattern, but emotional suppression can as well. People may develop problems when they regularly avoid showing emotions without finding other ways to process or communicate them (Moore et al., 2008).
Ineffective and Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms
When dealing with stress, avoidance is not the only strategy in which a person escapes distress. Another coping mechanism that can achieve that goal is, for example, substance use. As a way to cope with a stressful situation, it can be a temporary measure, but if used constantly or as a habit, it can become a problem. Sinha (2024) found a connection between stress, maladaptive coping, substance use, and relapse. Also, stress-related situations can increase vulnerability to continuing the use of substances, which could make it a stress response for the person.
We can also discuss experiential avoidance. That concept refers to the attempt to escape or suppress uncomfortable or stress-related thoughts, emotions, memories, and even physical sensations. A review conducted by Sequeda et al. (2026) found that people who experienced greater experiential avoidance were more likely to use substances such as alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, and other substances. Also, experiential avoidance was related to emotional dysregulation, trauma, and addictive behaviour (Sequeda et al., 2026).
People can also use social media constantly as a form of avoidant coping. A study of employees found that they often used social media for non-work-related activities to avoid their tasks. That led to worse task and creative performance and maladaptive conduct (Ng et al., 2016). Another research study added that individuals with internet addiction used it as an avoidance mechanism, relying on online activities in order to avoid real-life stress (Cheng et al., 2015).
What these ways of coping have in common is the avoidance of stressful situations and the search for short-term relief, but that doesn’t mean that they are effective coping mechanisms. Even if these coping strategies provide momentary relief from distress, they don’t help with the problem that might be causing the stress. To develop adaptive coping mechanisms that help to approach a problem, there needs to be a recognition of unhealthy coping mechanisms, such as avoidance of tasks, relying on the use of substances, the constant use of social media, and internet addiction. All of them are sources of temporary relief.
Some steps to accomplish the goal of using adaptive coping mechanisms are:
- Identify the coping mechanism used in most situations and whether it approaches a solution or provides fast stress relief.
- When facing a problem, approach it by dividing it into smaller, manageable tasks to focus on one thing at a time.
- People can use emotional regulation techniques, such as slow breathing, journaling, and physical activities, to reduce stress when they cannot change a situation.
- Also, approaching friends, family, colleagues, or a mental health professional could provide another perspective and help with dealing with the problem or source of stress.
Conclusion
There are different ways to approach and work towards the solution of a problem. The way someone faces a problem at a cognitive, emotional, and behavioural level is a coping mechanism. People usually describe coping mechanisms as healthy or unhealthy, but we can also study them based on how effectively they help someone handle a distressing situation
Effective ways to cope with stress can be problem-solving (looking for possible solutions and dealing with the situation), emotional regulation (managing emotions when the situation calls for long-term solutions), and social support (asking for help and support in relationships), as well as exercise as an external way to deal with stress. But ineffective coping mechanisms involve substance use, experiential avoidance, and avoidance as a coping mechanism. Since they look for short-term stress relief, they don’t address a stressful situation and could potentially create addiction and emotional dysregulation.
References +
- Cheng, C., Sun, P., & Mak, K.-K. (2015). Internet Addiction and Psychosocial Maladjustment: Avoidant Coping and Coping Inflexibility as Psychological Mechanisms. Cyberpsychology, Behaviour, and Social Networking, 18(9), 539–546. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2015.0121
- Elkington, T. J., Cassar, S., Nelson, A. R., & Levinger, I. (2017). Psychological responses to acute aerobic, resistance, or combined exercise in healthy and overweight individuals: A systematic review. Clinical Medicine Insights: Cardiology, 11, 1179546817701725. https://doi.org/10.1177/1179546817701725
- Hostinar, C. E., Johnson, A. E., & Gunnar, M. R. (2015). Recent developments in the study of social relationships, stress responses, and physical health. Current Opinion in Psychology, 5, 90–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.05.004
- Livneh, H. (2019). The use of generic avoidant coping scales for psychosocial adaptation to chronic illness and disability: A systematic review. Health Psychology Open, 6(2), 2055102919891396. https://doi.org/10.1177/2055102919891396
- Moore, S. A., Zoellner, L. A., & Mollenholt, N. (2008). Are expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal associated with stress-related symptoms? Behaviour Research and Therapy, 46(9), 993–1000. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2008.05.001
- Ng, J. C. Y., Shao, I. Y. T., & Liu, Y. (2016). This is not what I wanted: The effect of avoidance coping strategy on non-work-related social media use at the workplace. Employee Relations, 38(4), 466- 486.
- Pretorius, T. B., & Padmanabhanunni, A. (2023). Toward a positive life beyond COVID-19: Problem-solving appraisal as a resistance resource in the relationship between stress and well-being in students. Healthcare, 11(3), 350. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11030350
- Sequeda, G., Durán-Rondón, S., Acosta-López, J. E., Torres-Santos, E.-A., & Rivera-Porras, D. (2026). Experiential avoidance and psychoactive substance use: Systematic review. European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education, 16(2), 22. https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe16020022
- Sinha, R. (2024). Stress and substance use disorders: Risk, relapse, and treatment outcomes. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 134(16), e172883. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI172883
- Stanisławski, K. (2019). The Coping Circumplex Model: An integrative model of the structure of coping with stress. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 694. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00694
