About Mental Health: A Verywell Mind Article By Elizabeth Scott

Many people love the quick thrills of today, from roller coasters to that new horror film, even just scrolling through social media. Society today uses these as an avoidance method to ignore the hardships of life, even to the point where it negatively affects the person. As people develop coping methods to help get through a rough patch, many turn towards avoidance coping as the easy solution. The CDC states that, on average, one in every five Americans has some mental health issue or hardship during any given year. The CDC states that these people tend to develop positive and negative coping styles, all within their article “About Mental Health.” Even today, the ever-advancing tech has led to more avoidance methods. Despite many feeling that

There are an infinite number of these, such as riding a roller coaster, having a spending day, or scrolling through social media. Even many more things help them avoid hardship at all costs. A Verywell Mind article written by Elizabeth Scott describes in detail why, “people find themselves using avoidance coping instead of facing stress head-on for many reasons. Anxious people can be susceptible to avoidance coping because initially, it appears to be a way to avoid anxiety-provoking thoughts and situations” (Scott). This is because of how the brain works. Out of sight, out of mind, or in this case doing things that cause those thoughts to be pushed from the forefront of the

Some have a fear so bad that it affects their daily lives. For these people, there is a solution to exposure therapy APA.org discusses the benefits of exposure therapy perfectly. They state, “Exposure can help weaken previously learned associations between feared objects, activities or situations and bad outcomes. Self-efficacy: Exposure can help show the client that he/she is capable of confronting his/her fears and can manage the feelings of anxiety” (“What is Exposure…”). This can help those who tend to have anxiety and PTSD, which is so bad that it prevents one from being able to do daily tasks. Exposure therapy has many benefits; one must become more aware of what is an actual danger. Two, many learn to differentiate between what is real and what is in their head. This is important because many that go after those thrills tend to believe the exciting things they see in Social media and films. These people, who go through exposure therapy, are taught even a bit more during these nerve-racking times; they learn another coping method,