Avoidance coping

{{Short description|Effort to avoid dealing with a stressor}}

In psychology, avoidance coping is a coping mechanism and form of experiential avoidance. It is characterized by a person's efforts, conscious or unconscious, to avoid dealing with a stressor in order to protect oneself from the difficulties the stressor presents. Avoidance coping can lead to substance abuse, social withdrawal, and other forms of escapism. High levels of avoidance behaviors may lead to a diagnosis of avoidant personality disorder, though not everyone who displays such behaviors meets the definition of having this disorder.{{Cite journal|last1=Weinbrecht|first1=Anna|last2=Schulze|first2=Lars|last3=Boettcher|first3=Johanna|last4=Renneberg|first4=Babette|date=March 2016|title=Avoidant Personality Disorder: a Current Review|url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11920-016-0665-6|journal=Current Psychiatry Reports|language=en|volume=18|issue=3|pages=29|doi=10.1007/s11920-016-0665-6|pmid=26830887|s2cid=34358884|issn=1523-3812|url-access=subscription}} Avoidance coping is also a symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder{{Cite book|last=Horwitz|first=Allan V.|title=PTSD : a short history|date=2018|isbn=978-1-4214-2640-2|location=Baltimore, Maryland|oclc=1051003345}} and related to symptoms of depression and anxiety.{{Cite journal|date=2020-03-02|title=Toward an assessment of escape/avoidance coping in depression|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0166432819303535|journal=Behavioural Brain Research|language=en|volume=381|pages=112363|doi=10.1016/j.bbr.2019.112363|issn=0166-4328|last1=Haskell|first1=Amanda M.|last2=Britton|first2=Peter C.|last3=Servatius|first3=Richard J.|pmid=31739002|s2cid=208047991|url-access=subscription}} Additionally, avoidance coping is part of the approach-avoidance conflict theory introduced by psychologist Kurt Lewin.{{Cite journal|last=Roth|first=Susan|date=1986|title=Approach, avoidance, and coping with stress|url=https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1986-27206-001|journal=American Psychologist|volume=41|issue=7|pages=813–819|doi=10.1037/0003-066X.41.7.813|pmid=3740641|via=APA PsycNet|url-access=subscription}}

Literature on coping often classifies coping strategies into two broad categories: approach/active coping and avoidance/passive coping.{{cite journal|last=Roth|first=S|last2=Cohen |first2=L|date=1986|title=Approach, avoidance, and coping with stress|journal=American Psychologist|series=813-819|volume=41|issue=7|pages=813–819|doi=10.1037/0003-066x.41.7.813|pmid=3740641}}{{cite book |last=Kleinke |first=Chris L. |chapter=What does it mean to cope? |date=2007 |title=The Praeger Handbook on Stress and Coping |location=Westport |publisher=Praeger |volume=2 |isbn=978-0-275-99199-9}} Approach coping includes behaviors that attempt to reduce stress by alleviating the problem directly, and avoidance coping includes behaviors that reduce stress by distancing oneself from the problem.{{cite journal|last=Carver|first=C|last2=Scheier |first2=M|last3=Weintraub |first3=J|date=1989|title=Assessing coping strategies: a theoretically based approach|journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology|volume=56|issue=2|pages=267–283|citeseerx=10.1.1.1022.750|doi=10.1037/0022-3514.56.2.267|pmid=2926629}} Traditionally, approach coping has been seen as the healthiest and most beneficial way to reduce stress, while avoidance coping has been associated with negative personality traits, potentially harmful activities, and generally poorer outcomes.{{cite journal|last=Holahan|first=C|last2=Moos |first2=R|date=1985|title=Life stress and health: Personality, coping, and family support in stress resistance|journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology|volume=49|issue=3|pages=739–747|doi=10.1037/0022-3514.49.3.739|pmid=4045701}} However, avoidance coping can reduce stress when nothing can be done to address the stressor.