Stress, Gender, and the Path to Addiction: How Coping Styles Shape Risk and Recovery

It’s essential to understand how coping styles affect addiction and recovery and from there to support people to develop healthy coping mechanisms.

Here, we’ll explore coping styles and techniques and highlight how this is relevant in the field of addiction.

How Coping Styles Affect Addiction and Recovery

Addiction is a complex condition and, in contrast to other diseases, is shrouded in stigma which has a impact on treatment and outcomes for those affected.

Many people don’t understand the lure of substances and others, still, don’t understand what drives a person to compulsive use of alcohol or drugs.

At a base level, humans have different genetics, neurophysiology, and life experiences. This is hugely relevant when it comes to how addiction develops for some and how recovery unfolds.

Substance use itself is commonly adopted. It’s an avoidant maladaptive coping style. Short-term, people might have a drink after a stressful day and feel instantly relaxed as the alcohol slips through their blood to their brains, releases dopamine and serotonin, and induces GABA neurotransmitters.

Of course, repeated use forms a habit and for some, this is addictive. Especially as it alters brain chemistry, neural pathways, and hormonal balance in the long-term.

Maladaptive coping styles reduce a person’s ability to recover and they’re related to poor mental health outcomes. When a person develops addiction, it’s important for them to access rehab and go through necessary detox and therapeutic treatment in order to learn healthy coping mechanisms.

Adaptive coping styles are where a person uses healthy mechanisms to cope with stress. Repeatedly using healthy coping tools leads to robust resilience and lowers the risk of addiction and poor mental health.

Coping mechanisms are learnt, first, in the original home. Children learn how to react and how to cope from parents and caregivers. With this is mind, it’s easier to understand how people might develop addiction.

The Pathways to Addiction

A person raised by parents or caregivers who uses substances as a coping mechanism is at an increased risk of developing addiction for two prominent reasons:

Learning from the adult that it’s “normal” to use substances as a way to cope.
Genetic predisposition. Addiction genetically passes down and neuropathways can be geared towards addiction/compulsive behaviours.

Other risk factors for developing substance use as an unhealthy coping mechanism are as follows:

Experiencing chronic stress. This can lead a person to using alcohol or drugs more often as a “quick fix” to ease the feelings of stress.
Being vulnerable and/or having experienced trauma. Whether physical trauma (i.e. being in an accident, sustaining an injury, and then being prescribed opioids) or emotional trauma (i.e. being the victim in a coercive/controlling relationship and turning to substances as a way to emotionally regulate).
Having experienced adverse life events in childhood. The more adverse events children have experienced in childhood (i.e. neglect, physical abuse, parents with severe mental health issues, poverty), the more likely it is for addiction to develop.
Having other mental health conditions and/or being neurodiverse; these are comorbid with addiction.

The Differences between Men and Women

It doesn’t take much online research to find a wealth of statistics highlighting the differences in how addiction impacts men and women. Around the globe, men are shown to have higher rates of substance use. They also have higher rates of “deaths of despair” which are deaths associated with addiction (such as overdose, alcohol-related liver failure).

On the other hand, studies show women start using substances earlier, enter rehab sooner, and also have shorter periods of abstinence.

Interestingly, women have 52% less serotonin in their brain than men. This lack of serotonin actually stimulates the part of brain that causes women to ruminate and get “stuck”, and also means they’re at twice the risk of depression.

Women have more efficient frontal lobe functioning meaning they go to jail 14 times less than men. Men have a larger lack of fore-thought, which is also likely linked to an increased risk of using substances in the first place.

In a societal context, women face more social stigma related to addiction. Research shows they’re judged more harshly than men for using substances and this could impact how much and how often women access treatment.

Types of Coping Styles and their Impact on Healing

Research refers to four different coping styles. The more a person has under their belt, or can develop during recovery, the more likely it is for their recovery journey to be successful.

The problem-focused coping style is shown to the most effective. It deals with the source of stress head-on. This might, for example, be related to finance; a person with lots of unmanaged debt might consolidate their debt into one place at low-interest.

The emotion-focused coping style is when people use emotional regulation tools to cope. This might be by applying mindfulness techniques, Emotional Freedom Therapy (body tapping), or any others of the wide range available.

The meaning-focused coping style is where people use cognitive processes to understand a situation. An example of this could be when a person speaks with a therapist to understand how being ADHD might impact habits (i.e. having reduced impulse control can lead to more impulsive, and thereafter compulsive addictive behaviours).

The social coping style is when people seek others for support. This might be in friendship groups, addiction peer groups, or through hobbies. These are especially helpful in the addiction field where recovery is very much linked to connection, shared understanding and support.

Coping Mechanisms that Help Shape a Healthy Recovery

On the addiction recovery journey, developing a range of healthy coping mechanisms is essential for future health and wellbeing. For many, it’s a completely new experience, being introduced to and practising them.

However, the more these mechanisms are used, the easier they are to return to. With time, it’s easier to get through cravings successfully and to deal with triggering stressful events.

Healthy coping mechanisms often used include:

Mindfulness and meditation. These help a person sit in the present moment, to focus on breathing and redirecting unhelpful thoughts.
Developing healthy hobbies and interests. The more a person does what they actively enjoy, the more meaning their life has and the more it is filled up. This reduces the chances of returning to substance use.
Exercise and physical activity. Not only are these associated with a longer life, they help to replenish the happy chemicals in the brain and support physical health.
Forming a routine. Having the structure of a routine is essential to nurturing positive mental health and providing a person with a safety net for the day.
Social interaction and connection. Seeing others regularly, talking and connecting offers a deep way to find contentment in life and helps to fill the void that people often experience in the depths of addiction.
Ongoing professional support. Many abstinent people stay connected to drug and alcohol or counselling services for ongoing support as a preventative measure and as ongoing personal development.

The first step to developing a healthy coping style is often simply to talk. The saying, “a problem shared is a problem halved” has never rung more true.

On a societal level, much more can be done to support people to develop new coping styles and minimize the risk of addiction. This begins at the personal level; by making it easier for people to communicate.