Coping mechanisms are the strategies people often use to help manage stress, trauma, painful or difficult emotions. There are, however, a number of unhealthy coping mechanisms that are commonly adopted.
From a survey of 6,000 people by The Mental Health Foundation, the most common was avoiding trigger situations (22%).
Avoidance is a maladaptive form of coping in which a person changes their behaviour to avoid thinking about, feeling, or doing difficult things.
We tend to find that people facing accessibility issues will simply avoid situations that may require them to visit somewhere new or unfamiliar, which can be very disabling and life-limiting and is one of the ways that anxiety can feed into isolation, loneliness and even phobias.
When people use this strategy to consciously or unconsciously avoid something that causes them anxiety, they usually create a situation where they need to face yet more anxiety.
Trying to determine every single thing that could possibly go wrong or reviewing all the things that have gone wrong in the past that we want to avoid in the future can leave us trapped in rumination (which creates more stress and anxiety).
Familiarisation Videos offer a way to counteract avoidance of accessibility concerns, by allowing people to see a location in full, realistic detail. Worries about barriers and potential triggers can be addressed and planning and preparation can occur before physically visiting a venue. The opportunity to do this can greatly reduce anxiety, and help people to visit places that they may usually have avoided, feel more independant and lead a more active social life.
Find out more about how Familiarisation Videos can help https://www.familiarisationvideos.co.uk/
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