Distress occurs when we are unable to deal with the adverse life experiences that we experience and results in us developing unhealthy emotions, mind, relationships or body. So what helps us to deal with and recover from distress?
The answer is resilience. Resilience is the ability to recover from adverse life experiences. Just like immunity helps protect us from physical illnesses, resilience protects us from mental illnesses by helping us deal with the distress we experience. The stronger our resilience, the better we are able to deal with any distress we may face.
How do we strengthen our resilience? By practicing coping skills!
Coping skills are different techniques that we use to relieve the distress we are experiencing. While all coping skills may help us feel better in the short run, some of them may be harmful in the long run. That is why we divide coping skills into two categories; helpful and harmful.
Harmful coping skills are those which, despite bringing relief in the short run, may be harmful in the long run. They include substance abuse, harming others, harming ourselves and social isolation. Using helpful coping skills in excess can even prove harmful.
Helpful coping skills are those which are beneficial in both the short and long run. To learn about them, select the options below:
