Dixya Poudel

Have you ever wished you could ease your anxious mind? Have you ever felt addled by the thoughts endlessly churning in your brain? In a cycle of overthinking, it is easy to feel helpless in internal monologues. Further, those who have faced trauma know how hard it can be to contain the trappings of negative thinking that circles around anxiety and depression.

Trauma is an emotional response to situations where an individual is harmed or adversely affected. It can lead to a myriad of emotional and behavioural problems as the individual struggles to adjust to the reality of the circumstances. As such, psychologists suggest coping mechanisms to contain the spiralling mind.

However, even those who haven’t faced trauma can suffer from the menace of overthinking and negative thoughts. Trauma or not, individuals can benefit greatly from the coping mechanisms to contain their mind that is threatening to unravel.

Coping mechanisms are thus strategies to manage painful emotions in the advent of stress or trauma. Such mechanisms can help people align their thoughts and feelings to a healthier level. And stressors in life can come in different forms.

They are situations that create adverse reactions in an individual. Whether it is drastic changes or minor ones, we are built to resist changes especially the difficult ones. Thankfully, psychologists have been successfully advising coping mechanism in the advent of stressors.

Therapy and counselling further go a long way to cognitive behavioural changes that can help individuals cope with stress.

Meanwhile, even the healthiest of minds subtlety practice coping mechanisms. For example, people love to read novels for escape which happens to be a coping mechanism.

Novels are certainly the height of escapism. So are movies, music and TV shows. The entertainment media is built around the common ground which is to provide audiences an escape for a couple of hours. Whether it is through literature, movies, music and shows, we love to lose track of time and perhaps to temporarily avoid thinking of our problems.

Further, we constantly check our social media for that boost of dopamine via notifications. Positive escapism thus provides a certain level of respite. However, excessive escapism can be a concern if we keep avoiding our problems and procrastinate at work. Like everything else in life, escapism too needs to be balanced healthily.

Too much time spent in Netflix binge -watching movies and shows not just wastes our precious time but also hinders our cognitive growth. Excess of escapism can further lead to addictions such as binge-eating and alcoholism.

Likewise, when faced with boredom or loneliness, our mind tends to drift to daydreaming which is yet another form of coping mechanism. It is a stream of consciousness that gets played out in our mind when we detach ourselves from the tasks at hand and imagine ourselves in happier situations. Daydreaming is thus losing ourselves in a reverie and it can be healthy to an extent. Most of us spend quite a bit of time in daydreams which can however be a problem if they become too compulsive.

Our mind is a sponge that soaks up information through its senses and therefore, it needs to be held to a better standard. Additionally, with adequate coping mechanism, the mind can learn to deftly manage its environmental stressors.