Mental health professionals have developed the concept of “coping” to describe the different strategies for managing intense stress.
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder that occurs after a traumatic event.
- They concern 5 to 12% of the population, according to American studies (a figure potentially underestimated). In 20% of cases, PTSD becomes chronic, according to Inserm.
- They are characterized in particular by the intrusion of persistent memories which arise in an uncontrollable way, invading the consciousness of the victim who experiences them as new events arising in his present.
As Russian strikes continue in Ukraine and the Syrian and Turkish populations face the aftermath of one of the strongest earthquakes in their history, many residents are experiencing what health psychologists have called “coping”. Closely linked to the notion of adaptation, coping, often translated in the specialized literature by the French term “adjustment”, designates our way of “coping”, as a human being, with the dramas that can occur, as in times war or natural disaster. Cyril Tarquinio, professor of clinical psychology at the University of Lorraine, discusses this concept in an article of The Conversation.
“Schematically, it is the capacity to react to external and/or internal stimuli, constraints and conflicts, seeking to reduce or eliminate their unfavorable consequences through various adjustments. The purpose is survival, and the creation of a new balance compatible with this survival”he explains.
Stress: what are the different forms of coping?
As part of a study, scientists asked 100 adults, each month, for a year, to note a recent event that had disturbed them and their reactions to this situation, by answering a questionnaire. The results obtained revealed that there are two main forms of coping: problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping.
“Problem-focused coping refers to the set of behavioral and cognitive efforts that an individual makes in order to modify the situation in which he finds himself. This form has two aspects: confrontation with the event, which results in efforts to change the situation, and resolution of the problem, which results in the search for a set of means – information, help – allowing achieve it”, details the professor of psychology. Emotion-focused coping refers to all the efforts aimed at attenuating and supporting the emotional states triggered by the stressful situation. “There are many expressions of this form of coping, most of which consist of intrapsychic action-oriented processes: avoidance (no longer thinking about the problem), distraction, denial, dramatization, etc.”says the university.
Avoidance strategies include diverting attention from the source of stress, through sports or relaxation, for example. But sometimes it generates negative behaviors aimed at escaping emotional distress, such as taking alcohol or drugs. “Problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping are not two perfectly separate processes: in a given situation, one can sometimes use one, sometimes the other, or both together”adds the professor.
Emotional coping is more associated with post-traumatic stress disorder
Several studies, such as the one conducted among victims of the 2007 Virginia Tech University shootings in Blacksburg, United States, have shown that adults with post-traumatic stress disorder were significantly more likely than others to engage in a process of avoidance or flight, and therefore non-problem solving. “Conversely, recent research has shown that problem-focused coping reduces the strain experienced by the individual by eliminating (or alleviating) the stressor. People who use this strategy seem less likely to be prone to anxiety and depression”explains Cyril Tarquinio.
“However, not everything is so simple, because the effectiveness of a coping strategy also depends on the characteristics of the situation, and in particular its duration, or the controllability of the stressor”, he continues. Indeed, according to the professor, such an effect is reversed in uncontrollable situations: this time, the repeated efforts of the subject to control the situation are useless and exhausting.
“In this case, an avoidant emotional strategy may be more appropriate, especially in the short term. It indeed avoids being too stressed and allows a psychic work allowing gradually to evaluate the situation in a more realistic way and to set up strategies of confrontation. It protects self-esteem and allows you not to be overwhelmed by distress”emphasizes Professor Tarquinio. “There is therefore no effective coping strategy in itself. The effectiveness of the strategy implemented depends on certain characteristics specific to individuals (evaluation skills) and situations (duration, controllability)”he concludes.
