Maladaptive coping mechanisms can describe in result as non- coping. It will just reduce the symptoms while maintaining and strengthening the disorder in a short term. They don’t have the ability to adjust to a particular situation. This kind of behavior is sometimes used to lessen one’s anxiety but this will result to unproductivity. An example of this is, avoiding some situations to reduce your nervousness. These maladaptive coping mechanisms can prevent people from adjusting to the demand of life.
Maladaptive Strategies
1. Sensitization. This strategy is you are going to put yourself into fearful events and learn from it. These will serve as your guide to prevent this to happen.
2. Safety behaviors. This kind of strategy is refers to the coping strategies where people are always rely on someone or something as a means of coping with their extreme anxiety. They want reassurance of safety that some terrible consequences will not happen to them. The examples of these safety behaviors are they only go outside if they have someone beside the, they don’t want to stay outside unless they have their trusted person behind them. Likewise, children who have this condition may refuse to stay alone.
3. Anxious avoidance. When it comes to coping strategy this is the most common. This strategy states to avoid some situations that provoke the anxiety. Inappropriately, if the person did not face his fear and repeatedly avoiding it then, the fear that he feels will forever remain in his personality. This avoidance strategy will never give a person chance or opportunity on how to manage their anxiety properly.
Impact of Strategy
This avoidance strategy is successful because in a sense that a person will avoiding experience that can trigger his anxiety. In a learning process named operant conditioning a person will learn to avoid that may cause the behavior increase. A strategy same with avoidance is one way of escaping. This is commonly used by those people who have traumas and phobias. All these strategies about copings delay the person’s ability to learn and adapt their weaknesses. These maladaptive coping mechanisms will maintain the disorders of the person.
Maladaptive coping mechanism provides an advantage for those that suffer from this kind of disorder. Sometimes it is better to avoid things that will cause you anxiety. Meanwhile, it is also a great solution for the moment you continued experiencing this. You however, will not become free from this condition.
In some ways, maladaptive coping mechanisms can give some bad effects to the patient because you will not enjoy your life in this world. As long as you have the anxiety, nervousness, and fear in yourself you will forever be sad. You will not be a complete person if you don’t try to experience some things that can mold you as person. Your life will be boring because you will not going to experience the normal way of life. Conquering your fear will set you free and give you wonderful learning about life.