Although the creatures of centuries past are gone, the modern jungle is filled with its share of beasts. Today, an argument, a computer problem, battle for a parking spot at the mall, or even a certain look from another person can cause a heart to beat faster, palms to sweat and panic to set in. Although these stress responses may have served our ancestors well by providing a needed boost of adrenaline to prepare them for a sudden fight or flight, the options of fighting or fleeing are rarely appropriate or healthy in our modern world, especially when responses are prolonged and unrelieved. As such, the actual costs to businesses in absenteeism, medical expenses, disabilities, and lost productivity become difficult to calculate. Not all individuals respond or cope with stress in the same way.
Some people have a unique capacity to tolerate stress, while others are vulnerable to it.
Coping is how you deal with stress and change. Whether you are aware of it or not, you have a wide range of coping skills that you use to avoid, combat, and respond to stress. Coping skills are learned first from your family and then from your own experiences. Specific coping strategies vary from one individual to the next, and no particular way of coping is right or wrong for all situations. Coping strategies and tactics can be divided into two types adaptive and maladaptive.