Coping Mechanisms for Depression and Anxiety

Struggles in Life

We all manage the challenges we face in life differently. There are therapeutic powers to be found in our daily lives that we often engage in, in order to naturally alleviate and cope with our life challenges.
 
There are professional services for more debilitating mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorder. It is important to receive professional psychiatric and psychotherapeutic care for these types of disorders because they affect us in a much more disabling and persistent way than everyday life challenges.
 
Life challenges, such as getting a bad grade, making a mistake at work, having a disagreement with a friend, these experiences naturally cue fluctuations in our mood.

Negative Moods Linked To Depression and Anxiety

There is a range of negative moods we experience. The spectrum of these negative emotions can be condensed into 3 categories:
 

1. Dejection (Emotional Root: Sadness)
2. Irritation (Emotional Root: Anger)
3. Stress (Emotional Root: Fear)

 
When we experience a fluctuation in mood that leads us into a negative emotion from any of the categories above, naturally we find things in life to help us cope with these negative emotions.
 
Looking beyond obvious coping methods, such as, medications, drug and substance use, sleeping, binge eating, let’s take a closer look into these therapeutic powers.

Examples of coping mechanisms that many use to starve off depression

Therapeutic Powers :

• Distraction
  • Examples: reading, listening to music, planning trip in your head, daydreaming/imagining future events
  • Benefits:
    • Effective in alleviating all of the three negative moods: irritation, stress, and dejection.
    • Transfers the person’s thoughts from the issues related to the negative mood to something else
    • Mere sensory stimulation from the consumption environment (sights, sounds, smell, tactile senses) gives relief from negative emotions
• Self-Indulgence
  • Examples: going out to eat, shopping, buying something nice for yourself
  • Benefits:
    • Effective in alleviating all of the three negative moods
    • Reduce negative emotions felt and reinstates a more neutral mental state that enables a person to think and function normally
    • Calms down the mind by exposing person to exclusively pleasant experiences which gradually releases negative energy from body
    • Mind calms down the body​

• Stimulated Elaboration
  • Examples: hanging out with friend, going on a hike
  • Benefits:
    • Most effective in alleviating irritation and stress
    • Inspire deep thinking which leads to new realizations
    • Changes a person’s attitude towards negative emotions (new perspective)
• Activation
  • Examples: learning to cook new recipe, going to an exhibit, learning to play a new sport, shopping
  • Benefits:
    • Most effective in alleviating dejection (sadness)
    • Changes perception of helplessness
    • Engages person towards feeling of accomplishment
• Retreat
  • Examples: traveling, vacationing, visiting friend or family’s house, going to the movies
  • Benefits:
    • Most effective in alleviating stress
    • The change of environment relieves people of the feeling of being responsible
    • Physical escape gives way to mental escape of the negative mood

• Discharging
  • Examples: physical exercise, chewing gum, doing household chores,
  • Benefits:
    • Most effective in alleviating irritation
    • Activities help to discharge the negative energy from the body
    • As a result, this calms down our mind
• Re-Charging
  • Examples: going to the movies, going to the sauna
  • Benefits:
    • Most effective in alleviating stress and dejection
    • Feelings of powerlessness are diminished
    • Activities help a person regain strength so that they may deal with negative circumstances at a future time
• Consumption Activities
  • Examples: gardening, fixing car, painting a picture, playing basketball with a friend
  • Benefits:
    • Most effective in alleviating irritation and stress
    • The activities have therapeutic qualities in and of themselves.
    • The therapeutic qualities have a wide range and can be aesthetic (e.g. painting), utilitarian (e.g. repairing a car), social (e.g. emotional support), or self-esteem (e.g. self-actualization) related

Disclaimer: All information, content, and material contained in this article is for informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis, and/or medical treatment of a qualified physician or healthcare provider. ​