In common parlance, to cope means “to manage, deal (competently) with, a situation or problem” (Oxford English Dictionary). More technically, psychologists understand coping as the ways individuals deal with stress (Folkman and Moskowitz 2004), where stress is defined as “a negative emotional experience accompanied by predictable biochemical, physiological, cognitive, and behavioral changes that are directed either toward altering the stressful event or accommodating to its effects” (Taylor 2015: 113). Situations prompting coping might range from the mundane—as when navigating the normally stressful periods of our lives, such as the transition from childhood to adolescence, or common challenges of adulthood (conflict in partnership, parenting, work/job)—to increasingly more exceptional circumstances, such as the loss of a loved one, acquiring a severe illness (acute or chronic), facing mental health issues, or enduring abusive or…
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