Stress management techniques can fall into two categories: problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping.
Meanwhile, emotion-focused coping techniques aid you in becoming less emotionally reactive to the stressors you face.
They alter the way you experience these situations so they impact you differently.
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Many people think mainly of solution-focusedcoping strategiesas the best way to manage stress.
However, it’s not entirely possible to cut all stress out of our lives.
Some factors in our jobs, our relationships, or our lifestyles are simply prone to creating challenges.
Some key benefits of emotion-focused coping include:
Emotion-focused coping can help with both emotions and solutions.
Meditation
Meditationis an ancient practice that involves focusing attention and increasing awareness.
Meditation can help you to separate yourself from your thoughts as you react to stress.
This allows you to stand back and choose a response rather than react out of panic or fear.
Meditation also allows you to relax your body, which can reverse yourstress responseas well.
Journaling
Journaling allows you to manage emotions in several ways.
It can provide an emotional outlet for stressful feelings.
It also can enable you to brainstorm solutions to problems you face.
Journaling also helps you to cultivate more positive feelings, which can help you to feel less stressed.
It also brings other benefits for wellness andstress management, making it a great emotion-focused coping technique.
Reframing
Cognitive reframingis a strategy that can be used to change how people experience events.
This can cause people to act irrationally and make it more difficult to solve problems.
Positive thinking can have a number of benefits, including acting as a buffer against life’s stresses.
A Word From Verywell
Not all problems can be solved.
you might’t change someone else’s behavior and you might’t undo a health diagnosis.
But, you might change how you feel about the problem.
Experiment with different emotion-focused coping strategies to discover which ones reduce your distress and help you feel better.
Amnie AG.Emerging themes in coping with lifetime stress and implication for stress management education.SAGE Open Med.
2018;5(4):e11290.
doi:10.2196/11290
Clark DA.Cognitive restructuring.
In: Hofmann SG, Dozois D, eds.The Wiley Handbook for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, First Edition.
