PSY-5302 v4: Stress and Coping Northcentral University
Week 6 – Assignment: Assess Your Coping Resources NCU
Assess Your Coping Resources
| Technique | Focus | Example | Outcome | |
| 1 | Diaphragmatic Breathing | Emotion | One week ago, I dreamt that people had invaded our house. I could hear them moving around the house, and eventually, they started moving to the bedrooms. They banged our bedroom door open, and that’s when I suddenly woke up. Even though this was just a dream, I shook uncontrollably from fear. I resorted to breathing exercises. | The breathing exercises helped calm me down, and I stopped shaking after 15 minutes. I accepted that it was just a dream (Aldwin, 2007). |
| 2 | Mindfulness | Emotion | I walked into the lunchroom, and it suddenly felt strangely quiet. I asked one of my colleagues why they had abruptly stopped talking while on my way; I could hear loud voices coming from the room, but she declined to tell. A few minutes later, I gathered they were talking about an embarrassing moment I had encountered earlier in the day. I felt angry and humiliated because some of them are close people I trust. Since I was boiling with anger, I decided to walk out and sit in a quiet place until lunch was over. | I was able to clear my head and reaffirm to myself that what people say does not define me, but only what I think of myself is important. (Stanisławski, 2019) |
| 3 | Procrastination | Emotion | My maternal grandmother passed on two months ago. It was a traumatic experience that left me with sadness and great emotional pain because we were very close. I am tasked with clearing her house and packing everything up, but it reminds me of the pain whenever I think about it. Every time I am scheduled to go and pack the stuff, I find an excuse and change to a later date. | It helps me avoid the sadness I would feel because of the memories of her. However, I will eventually have to do it when I am ready. |
| 4. | Blocking negative thoughts (Probst & Jiang, 2016) | Problem-focused | We have been having some issues with my partner. Sometimes we get into a heated debate. The frequent disagreements have affected our relationship and caused emotional pain and a lack of trust and respect for one another. We decided to seek therapy to help us solve the issues because we have failed to do it on our own. | Therapy will help us see clearly from each other’s point of view and address the problems we have.
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| 5. | Analyze faulty thinking (Hirsch et al., 2015) | Problem-focused | I feel paranoid about leaving my child under the care of a nanny because I think that being a stranger, they might do something terrible. This thinking follows an experience I had two years ago with a nanny who wanted to harm my child. At the same time, I must get a nanny because we often come late from work or must go for night shifts. I try to analyze the faulty thinking preventing me from seeing things clearly and consider every nanny harmful. | Analyzing my thoughts reduces the paranoia and helps me accept that my experience was unfortunate and that it will not necessarily repeat itself. |
| 6. | Seeking support from family | Problem-focused (Probst & Jiang, 2016) | I have been under financial strain lately because of increasing financial responsibilities, yet I do not have a high-paying job. The issue is stressing me a lot and impacting my health outcomes. It reached a point I started experiencing difficulties in sleeping and not eating well. So, I decided to seek moral and financial support from my family. | Sharing my challenges with my siblings felt relieving. Their financial and moral support has helped me regain my health. |
References
Aldwin, C. M. (2007). Stress, coping and development: An integrative perspective. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
Hirsch, C., Devos Barlem, E. L., Tomaschewski-Barlem, J. G., Lerch Lunardi, V., & Calçada de Oliveira, A. C. (2015). Predictors of stress and coping strategies adopted by nursing students. Acta Paulista De Enfermagem, 28(3), 224-229. https://doi.10.1590/1982
Probst, T. M., & Jiang, L. (2016). Mitigating physiological responses to layoff threat: An experimental test of the efficacy of two coping interventions. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 13(3), 1-15. https://doi.10.3390/ijerph13030338
Stanisławski, K. (2019). The Coping Circumplex Model: An Integrative Model of the Structure of Coping With Stress. Front Psychol, 10:694. https://doi.10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00694.