Recap Of Avoidant Coping

Rules to notice if you are using avoidance strategies too often.

1. You may get a sense that you are using avoidance too much if you start to feel isolated, alone, or detached from others and from activities that you enjoy.
2. Keep in mind that avoidance strategies are meant for the short term, so if you find yourself using these strategies as your only go to coping strategies it will be a good idea to think about using more action coping strategies too.
3. It is always okay to avoid anti-trans or transphobic discrimination! If you are in situations where you are being harmed it is always okay to avoid, leave, or ignore those situations, spaces, or people.
4. You may find yourself using avoidance coping strategies more as you start out. This is totally normal! And we encourage you to get creative and play around with mindful awareness and action coping strategies until you become just as comfortable with them.
5. No one coping strategy is better or worse than others. But you can never use action coping strategies too often, but you can overuse avoidance. So make sure you are mindful of which coping strategies you are using and try to mix up both action coping and avoidance strategies.

Tips to reduce your use of avoidance strategies.

1. Take a moment to assess how strong your gender dysphoria feels. If it’s not at its most intense level, consider trying a deep breathing exercises first.
2. Have you tried using mindfulness or action strategies? If not, try one of your favorite action strategies instead of going straight to an avoidance strategy.
3. When you get better at mindfulness and action strategies, use them instead of avoidance when the gender dysphoria is really strong. You might find they work better than you expect!