Maladaptive Coping: Negative Skills for Managing Emotions

What is maladaptive coping, what does it look like in real life and how can we find better, healthier skills to replace them?

At times, we all encounter challenging emotions such as sadness, anger, anxiety, and stress. It is a fundamental aspect of our human nature. Our ability to navigate challenging emotions is crucial. From a young age, individuals often develop strategies to navigate the complexities of emotional distress. Although these strategies may have been beneficial to us in the past, particularly during our childhood, it is important to recognise that many of them are ultimately detrimental and can have negative consequences in the future.

These are known as maladaptive coping strategies - habits and behaviours that we often resort to to find solace from emotional turmoil, but unfortunately, they tend to exacerbate our issues instead. While these distractions may provide temporary relief, they can hinder our ability to effectively process and work through our emotions. Now, let's examine a few examples of commonly used maladaptive coping strategies:

Substance abuse is a serious issue that affects many individuals. It is crucial to address this problem with empathy and understanding.

Seeking solace in alcohol, drugs (including smoking), or other addictive substances as a means to alleviate distressing emotions is a common example of an ineffective coping strategy. Although it may temporarily alleviate the discomfort, it gives rise to fresh challenges, hampers your discernment, and hinders you from addressing the underlying issue.

Obsessive Actions

Compulsive behaviours such as gambling, emotional eating, risky sexual behaviour, excessive streaming/gaming, or reckless spending can also develop into unhealthy coping mechanisms. We often turn to various distractions or seek solace in the intensity of experiences or the reward circuitry in our brains.

Isolating oneself from social interactions and actively avoiding them

It is not uncommon for individuals to find solace by distancing themselves from loved ones and activities that once brought them joy. Many times, when we isolate ourselves in an attempt to escape our emotions, we unintentionally make them even worse. Suppressing and evading our emotions stops us from confronting them directly.

Expressing Anger

Many individuals find solace in expressing their negative emotions towards others through aggressive outbursts, angry tirades, or passive-aggressive resistance and non-compliance. While it may offer a short-term escape, this behaviour ultimately harms connections and gives rise to fresh challenges.

Although these coping strategies may have been effective in the past, they ultimately deter emotional processing and exacerbate issues. It is important to focus on cultivating healthier and more constructive coping mechanisms for effectively managing challenging emotions as they occur. Here are the key elements:

1) Embracing and fully immersing yourself in the depths of your emotions, even when they may be uncomfortable, rather than evading them.

2) Utilising various strategies such as deep breathing, meditation, journaling, and exercise to gracefully navigate through challenging moments.

3) Seek the counsel of a trusted confidant or loved one to gain valuable perspective on your emotions.

4) Seeking guidance from a mental health counsellor who can assist in navigating personal challenges.

Through consistent practice, one can effectively replace unhelpful coping mechanisms with strategies that effectively alleviate distress while also addressing the underlying problem. Navigating through emotions can be challenging, but it's worth it to avoid the negative outcomes of relying on unhealthy coping mechanisms. It is important to cultivate patience, seek out the support of others, and consciously decide to handle your emotions more constructively.