Part 3 in a series of 5
What are Maladaptive Strategies?
Denial: Human beings are very quick to deny that there is any problem at all. Does this sound familiar: “Who me, I’m not tense” and statements like that?
We even go to the point of denying that they have any kind of stress. Strong emotions can show up in many different ways such as anger, hatred and resentment. These are the major signs that you are resisting looking at something or some form of cause of stress deep within yourself. However denial may not always be maladaptive, it can help as a temporary measure to some extent in helping you to tolerate a situation until you get to that point where you can no longer deny it any more. Denial in these early stages helps us to cope and function even for years in some cases. However sooner or later, denial will no longer work in our favor and we end up having to come up with something else to keep functioning and coping with the stress. However, in the end, there will always be a serious price to pay.
Maladaptive strategies for coping with stress is for instance in becoming a workaholic, using work as an excuse to avoid dealing with stress. Usually this occurs when an individual becomes dissatisfied with the family environment e.g. being at work can be used as the safest excuse for never being at home. On top of all of that, if your work gives you some form of positive feedback, pleasure, even the feeling of power and status, you feel productive and creative making it easy to cope with tons of work. It can become addictive sending you into another spiral of an unhealthy lifestyle without even realizing it. This form of coping mechanism gets people drowned into their jobs, which are usually done unconsciously, for the most part, with the best intentions in the world. This occurs when people have deep feelings of reluctance to face other aspects of their lives as well as the need to strike a healthy balance between these aspects of their lives.
A third strategy can be some form of hyperactivity, which sometimes functions as an attempt to hold on to the feeling of control, especially when that feeling of control seems to be slipping away. People will fill their life with commitments and obligations to avoid making any time for dealing with the stress that led them to this hyperactivity in the first place.
A popular way of coping with stress is using chemicals to alter the state of mind or body. It has been speculated that up to 98% of the population take some form of drug ranging from something as subtle as coffee, to more detrimental drugs like alcohol, smoking. Hard drugs and so on. The smoking of cigarettes tend to be the most common form of coping with stress as usually the smoking sensations create the unconscious illusion of relaxation. Many people find some form of self-confidence on a social level when they are consuming alcohol. In most instances there is the illusion that the people that you drink with are creating some form of emotional support, providing a social comfort that reinforces the idea that drinking can help you feel in control.
Food is another way of creating a coping mechanism with stress and emotional discomfort. The use of food as a coping mechanism can become addictive in a similar way of drug use; in this case the food is the drug. The feeling of emptiness within, over-shadowed by filling oneself up with calories, creates a feeling of filling a void and comfort. The problem now, is that we have become a drug ingesting society with the expectation that the doctor must give them something to help them relieve the pain. If the doctor does not provide them with medication, they go into the state that the doctor does not care in their wellbeing further adding to their stress and addiction. In these cases it is better to have some form of therapy where the patient has the opportunity to speak out about the stress rather than being on medication.
People use many types of chemicals to attain a sense of control, peace of mind and relaxation. These are maladaptive coping mechanisms which are unhealthy, especially when they become habitual or the only means used for controlling reactions to stress. The substances used to relieve stress are in itself stressors on the body.
Caffeine for instance causes some dysregulation in blood pressure and heart rate. Nicotine as well as the other chemicals in cigarettes are the causes of heart disease, cancer and lung disease. Alcohol causes liver, heart and brain diseases. Narcotics such as cocaine and other similar hard drugs are the causes of cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. All these substances are psychologically addictive.
Sooner or later the accumulated effects of stress reactivity in combination with inadequate ways of dealing with it, will lead to a breakdown in one form or another. Usually it will happen sooner rather than later because our internal resources for maintaining homeostasis can only handle a certain degree of overload and abuse. There are instances where people have a number of coping mechanisms which prolong the breakdown point; these coping mechanisms can last for years depending on situations.
People use these coping mechanisms to avoid dealing with the causes of these stressors because of fear that it will disrupt their sense of security. Your generic make up will determine what part of your body will be the first to give into the stress. Other determining factors of when one reaches their breaking point are their environment, the maladaptive life-style and addictions. The area of body or mind with the weakest link is what will go first. Continuous arousal with little control over the fundamental stressor can reach the point where feelings of helplessness and hopelessness begin to dominate. At this point, Instead of hyperarousal, chronic depression can set in, leading to a different spectrum of hormonal and immune system changes, that over time can also undermine health and lead to breakdown. This condition may end up in a burnout. In turn this leads to a psychological exhaustion with an accompanying loss of drive and enthusiasm.
Being stuck in a stress-reaction cycle is not normal and there is far more options and resources for facing problems that usually cause stress.
The healthy way to stop self-destruction and stress is to stop reacting to it and rather respond to it in constructive ways.
In part 4, we will look at ways of responding to stress rather than reacting to it, which leads to a healthier way of life.
You can read Part 1 of this STRESS Series — ‘What happens when we get stuck in stress?’ here.
Resources:
Stuck in Stress Reactivity Chapter 19 by Jon Kabat –Zinn
Responding to stress instead of reacting, Chapter 20 by Jon Kabat Zinn
Emotional Memory, Mindfulness and Compassion Paul Gilbert and Dennis Tirch
Some reflections on the origins of MBSR , skilful means and the trouble with maps
Dr. Jutta Lenz is a Doctor of Philosophy, has a Masters Degree in Psychology and she also specialises in Sports Science, Educational Science, Business and health coaching and teaching yoga. She is a management consultant, facilitator, business and health coach in companies national and international in the US, Norway, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. She also spends time working with the governments of Germany and Austria. Jutta is a change management facilitator for individuals and organizations while they are going through a time of transformation to deal with life crises and conflicts. She offers participative coaching and counselling as well as health coaching that includes stress management, burnout, lifestyle and nutrition.
Comments