Folkman and Lazarus defined coping as “the constantly changing cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage the specific external or internal demands that are appraised as taxing or exceeding the resources of the person.”

Coping strategies refer to the specific efforts, both behavioral and cognitive, that people use to master, tolerate, reduce, or minimize stressful events.

Two major categories of coping strategies are widely recognized:
• problem‐solving strategies (efforts to do something active to alleviate stressful circumstances)
• emotion‐focused coping strategies (efforts to regulate the emotional consequences of stressful events)

Some authors have argued for a third dimension, called avoidance‐oriented coping (efforts to avoid a stressful situation by seeking out other people or by engaging in a substitute task).

C Donnellan, D Hevey, A Hickey, and D O'Neill. Defining and quantifying coping strategies after stroke: a review. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2006 November; 77(11): 1208–1218. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.2005.085670. Accessed on June 18, 2016.