The Most Effective Coping Skills: According to You

As a therapist and mental health educator, I frequently come across the term coping skills. This word gets thrown around in regards to dealing with difficult things in our lives, actions we take to cope with adverse experiences. Now, I find that when this term is talked about, it's often in a very vague way. It's not really defined, nor do we talk about the individual coping skills that tend to be most effective. There's not a lot about this in textbooks or research, so I decided to ask my followers, people who have actually experienced mental health, who have been through therapy, and what they have found to be the most effective for them.

I got a ton of respondents and I tallied which coping skills do people find to be the most helpful? And I'm going to share the top ten with you right now. At number ten, you have one of my favorites, and that is spending time with pets. We share a similar connection with our animals than we do to other people. It releases love chemicals like oxytocin when we pet them or cuddle with them. And there's a ton of research out there showing that animals can be very effective for dealing with severe and persistent mental illness like chronic PTSD.

At number nine, we have various forms of art. Things like painting, drawing, sculpting, anything to get those emotions out in a way to create something tangible. Number eight is another creative outlet that's highly recommended by mental health professionals and wellness experts. And that is through journaling, getting those next thoughts and emotions from your head onto paper. This helps you process through them and organize them in a great way to move forward. Number seven is another one of my favorites, and that is through laughter.

Whether it's watching a comedy series or getting together with some of your best friends and having a good laugh, laughing releases a ton of endorphins and is super healthy for you emotionally and even physically. Now at number six, we have spirituality. Connecting with a power greater than yourself. So many people find power and solace in this connection, whether it's through prayer, meditation, religion, or just general connecting with something outside of yourself. There's so much research backing how helpful this can be for you, both mentally and physically, and how people are able to get through extreme difficulties and adverse experiences through spirituality.

At number five, we have the simple action of reaching out to friends, family or other supportive people when you're having a struggle, a difficult time that's often getting those thoughts and feelings out of your head and processing them verbally and getting good feedback from other people can really help you get through the most difficult times. This is something common that you see in the recovery community. Whether it's picking up your phone and calling a sponsor or picking up the phone to connect and help someone else, this could be profoundly helpful.

The next 1 may be one of the most fun, and that is listening to music, picking your favorite song, throwing your headphones on, or singing as loud as you can in the car. There is something extremely therapeutic about this, and there's something about listening to music we love that really instantly boosts our mood. The next one I find to be extremely important as a therapist, and when I work with my clients, I teach them how to reframe consistent negative thoughts, how to see things in a more realistic and positive light.

Doing things like a gratitude list to really focus on what you're thankful for and not some of the things that you don't have. It's really easy to fall into those traps of negative thinking, and having tools to get out of it is unbelievably helpful. The next is one of the most beneficial and immediate ways to improve your mood, and that is through movement, whether it be physical exercise, dancing, walking, anything to stimulate those positive neurotransmitters that lead us to feeling happier. So here we go at number one, we have mindfulness, and this can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people.

Folks said they benefit from meditating, whether it's just being more conscious of what we're doing in the present moment and drowning out some of those busy thoughts. Mindfulness and meditation have been proven to lead to be more happy, to be more content in life, and to be more focused, present and aware.