5 techniques to break your maladaptive coping patterns
Anxiety and stress can certainly make people feel low and cause a lot of problems in their lives. Different people cope with anxiety in different ways. Generally, people reduce stress and anxiety through adaptive and maladaptive coping.
However, there is a big difference between the two. Adaptive is considered to be a positive coping strategy, whereas maladaptive is deemed as a negative strategy. There is a reason for that. Adaptive coping behavior allows you to make your functioning better, whereas maladaptive behavior does not.
Maladaptive coping may certainly help you in the short run, but it will affect your mental health and can make you weak in dealing with stressful situations.
But there is nothing to worry about. Here are five techniques to break your maladaptive coping patterns.
Meditation
Meditation is certainly one of the most effective ways of breaking maladaptive coping patterns. It not only allows you to balance your life in the best manner possible but also allows you to become more creative, focused, and sharp.
Additionally, meditation enables you not to think of one thing for a longer period of time and allows you to distract yourself from things that are making you feel anxious or stressed.
Self-compassion
Having a mindset of self-compassion is better for you in comparison to having a mindset where you always tend to see yourself with shame. The latter will not make you feel confident about yourself in the long run, but being self-compassionate will always make you feel good about yourself regardless of the situation. Interestingly, to mitigate distress, our brain releases oxytocin, a feel-good neurotransmitter, and being self-compassionate does that job.
Cognitive Restructuring
Cognitive restructuring is unquestionably important for a person as this certainly helps them deal with issues such as distorted thoughts. Most people may not know this, but distorted thoughts can prove to be extremely dangerous for you as this causes more anxiety and stress.
Changing your negative thoughts with more positive and healthy thoughts can help you see a major change in yourself. You can also get help through mental health counseling with a professional in this field.
Distraction
In order not to engage in negative thoughts or behaviors that are considered to be unhealthy, you must try your level best to distract yourself by focusing on different activities.
You can do whatever you like and prefer to do. For example, you can read books, listen to some good music, do any sports activity, or do anything you find interesting and fun.
Thought stopping
Thought-stopping is a fantastic technique that most people use in order to resist unnecessary and negative thoughts. There are two things you can do to stop your thoughts. You can either start thinking about more productive and good things or engage in any sort of activity that causes a physical reaction.
Whatever you do, just make sure you do not allow your negative thoughts to take control of you. You will surely feel better and more confident and will eventually break your maladaptive coping patterns.
Just believe in yourself!
Reach out today
If you are concerned about coping patterns, therapy can help. Reach out to D.J. Burr today. D.J. is a licensed mental health professional and certified clinical trauma professional with 13+ years of experience. Start your journey to feeling more confident, balanced, and motivated today.
