Coping Skills in Action
You feel your heart racing and your thoughts spinning. You need to calm your body first. What type of coping skill is best?
Grounding or breathing technique
Name an emotion that is often underneath anger.
Sadness, fear, hurt, shame, disappointment
Sleeping all day to avoid stress is an example of what type of coping?
Avoidant coping / Unhealthy coping
A trigger is anything that causes what?
An emotional, physical, or psychological reaction
What’s one physical sign that tells you your body is stressed?
Racing heart, tight muscles, shallow breathing, etc.
You keep having the same negative thought on repeat. What skill helps challenge it?
Cognitive reframing / Thought challenging
This emotional skill helps you notice what you’re feeling without judging yourself.
Emotional awareness / Mindfulness of emotions
Name a coping skill that helps you interrupt a negative behavior before it escalates.
Pause technique / Urge surfing / Delaying the urge
What’s one early warning sign that your stress is building?
Answers vary: irritability, tension, overthinking, withdrawal, etc.
What is something you tend to do when you are overwhelmed?
Open answer
You’re overwhelmed and trying to do too many tasks at once. What coping skill helps prioritize?
Breaking tasks into smaller steps / Time management
When two emotions show up at the same time (ex: “happy-sad”), what is this called?
Mixed emotions
Setting boundaries is considered healthy. Give one example of a boundary someone might set.
Examples vary: saying no, limiting contact, time boundaries, emotional boundaries
You’re starting to feel dysregulated. What’s one skill from DBT that helps bring your arousal level down quickly?
TIPP, breathing, cold water, grounding
If a thought starts with “I always…” or “I never…,” what kind of thinking might be happening?
Cognitive distortion / All-or-nothing thinking
You feel disconnected and numb. Which coping skill helps bring you back into the present moment?
5-4-3-2-1 grounding or sensory grounding
You feel anxious about an event in the future. Which emotion regulation skill helps bring your mind back to the present?
Mindfulness / Present-moment focus
When someone uses humor, hobbies, or connection to cope, what category of coping does this fall under?
Emotion-focused or healthy coping
You have a trigger you can’t avoid (work, family, environment). What is one way to cope?
Planning ahead, using skills, boundary setting, emotional regulation, asking for support, etc.
What is one belief you have that sometimes gets in the way of your progress?
Open answer
You notice you’re starting to act on impulse during conflict. Which coping skill helps you pause long enough to choose a healthier response instead of reacting emotionally?
STOP skill (DBT), urge surfing, or intentional pause + grounding.
When someone has a big emotional reaction to something small, what psychological concept explains that there may be an older, deeper emotion underneath it?
Emotional triggers / emotional layering / underlying core emotion.
A person uses a coping skill that works in the short term but causes problems long-term (example: avoidance, shutting down, overworking). What is this type of coping called?
Maladaptive coping / short-term relief with long-term cost.
You’re facing a stressor you cannot change. What is the specific category of coping that focuses on accepting the situation, adjusting your perspective, and managing your emotional response?
Emotion-focused coping / Radical acceptance.
Identify a pattern:
Someone keeps repeating the same unhealthy behavior in relationships even though they want a different outcome. What is one psychological reason this might keep happening?
Unmet core need, attachment pattern, automatic behavior patterns, or repeating familiar but unhealthy cycles.