The 4 Levels of Coping Strategies for Stress
More than ever before, people are well aware of the negative effects of stress and the consequences to our mental health. As a result, more people are getting curious about how to develop healthier coping strategies for stress, improve their overall mental health, heal their trauma, and have healthier relationships.
If you’re interested in developing healthier coping skills for stress, we can help. We offer cognitive behavioral therapy in Florida and therapy in Orlando for individuals struggling with anxiety, depression, and trauma. Call today or request a consultation to learn more about our skills-based approach.
In this article, we will try to simplify an explanation of different types of coping strategies so you can see how they fit together to make a cohesive healthy lifestyle. For simplification, we’ve broken these coping strategies down into 4 levels.
Level 1: These are the unhealthy reactive coping mechanisms we tend to gravitate toward in an effort to distract, avoid, and numb out from stress and emotional pain temporarily. This level includes things like distraction, avoidance, drugs and alcohol, blaming, and manipulation. (Check out this article for more info on Level 1 - Reactive Coping Strategies)
Level 2: These are the beginner’s level healthy coping strategies, such as physical self-care, social connection, productivity, and personal goals that can improve overall wellness, but don’t typically address underlying causes of anxiety, depression, or unresolved trauma. They can help to build a solid foundation for mental health, but they’re not the whole enchilada despite what influencers might have you believing. (Check out this article for more info on Level 2 - Beginner’s Coping Strategies)
Level 3: These are the coping strategies that help you to build a healthy tolerance for a wide range of internal and external experiences. This means learning to handle all your emotions and stress from a healthier place, so that you can stop believing everything you think and giving into every unhelpful impulse you have (such as yelling when you’re angry or avoiding things when you’re anxious or shutting down when you’re feeling overwhelmed). This level includes skills like grounding, diaphragmatic breathing, mindfulness training, and stabilization skills. (Check out this article for more info on Level 3 - Intermediate Coping Strategies)
Level 4: These are the coping skills that help you to have healthier relationships, resolve long-term emotional wounds, and actually change how you feel about yourself, your life, and other people. This is where long term patterns can be rewritten and the past no longer dictates the present or the future for you. This level includes things like assertive communication, healthy boundaries, and healing trauma to name a few. (Check out this article for more info on Level 4 - Advanced Coping Strategies)
Most people think of healthy coping skills as something you either have or don’t have - like a light that’s either on or off. In reality, healthy coping is more like one of those dimmer switches - it can be all the way off, all the way on, or often somewhere in between.
Much like the stages of grief, these levels of coping are not a linear process. You don’t beat Level 1 and move onto Level 2, then Level 3, and so on. Throughout your life, you may find that major life transitions such as break ups, graduations, or significant health problems have knocked you back down a level or two. As you become aware of this, you hopefully feel motivated to pick back up old healthy habits from higher levels you’ve been in before. For example, maybe you were living at Level 2, then you got divorced and fell back to Level 1, then, after a period of depression you picked back up your Level 2 habits, and started working on Level 3. That’s one of the nice things about personal growth: once you’ve been to a higher level, even if you get knocked back down a level or two, it’s not likely you’ll be content to stay there for long. The climb back up also doesn’t usually take as long as it did the first time.
If you are interested in leveling up to healthier coping strategies for stress and improving your overall mental health, start with these simple steps.
Figure out which level you are currently on based on how you’re currently managing most of your stress or emotional discomfort (such as anxiety, depression, anger, loneliness, etc). Keep in mind you may be straddling between two different levels depending on a variety of factors. Spend some time just noticing how you’re using the strategies of that level as a way of managing or reacting to stress in your life. This step can yield valuable information.
Make a list of the different levels you have been at during various points in your life, then list the coping strategies you got familiar with while you were there. For example, “I remember when I was at Level 2, I was walking every day, going to yoga, and seeing friends pretty regularly. When I was at Level 3, I was journaling a lot, practicing mindfulness, and trying to sit with my feelings long enough to figure them out instead of just trying to shut them off.” This will help point you toward skills you already have that you can start working to incorporate back into your life.
Take a look at the next level up from where you are. Forget about getting all the way to Level 4, just look at the next level up. Explore what skills may be helpful to learn or try if you’re interested in reaching the next level in the coping game. Start small with just one of the next level skills and see what happens. For example, if you’ve been at Level 2 for a while, start practicing mindfulness, journaling, or diaphragmatic breathing and see what you notice. It won’t solve everything, but you’ll notice something. I guarantee it.
If you’ve never been to Level 3 or 4, it may be time to enlist the help of a therapist to guide you to the next level, or if you are a DIY person, to start researching and planning strategies to start incorporating next level skills into your life. (Check out these articles on Level 2, Level 3, and Level 4 for more information.)
We can help.
If you or someone you love is struggling with anxiety, depression, or the effects of trauma, please reach out. We offer CBT Therapy in Orlando and online throughout the state of Florida. Call today or send us your info and we’ll reach out for a free consultation to see if one of our therapists would be a good fit.
