ABSTRACT
What Are Coping Skills? All humans face hard times and suer. We live in a world of profound inequality and injustice, but a life of privilege is no more a guarantee of happiness than a life of poverty is of misery. How well people function, the quality of our lives, is enhanced by external resources such as money, access to education and health care, a supportive family and friends, and a tolerant and humane society. ese external resources help foster inner resources like intelligence, language skills, creativity, exibility, a sense of humor, and self-condence. External and internal resources reinforce each other. Nurturing, supportive family and social environments produce more psychologically healthy people. War, tyranny, and deprivation produce more people suering with mental health problems. While all human beings suer, we vary enormously in our capacity to manage adversity. Some people have the ability to survive catastrophic challenges. Other people seem to fall apart when faced with minor inconveniences.
