Overview
“Adaptive coping” refers to the pattern of choosing methods to manage suffering or problems that are better than the alternatives. Someone who feels mild anxiety in social settings might have a drink to loosen up at a networking event, which could be considered adaptive in an environment where extroverted behavior is the expectation and drinking is the norm. If that same person continues drinking after work to deal with any anxiety they have about their career and future, we might begin categorizing that as a “maladaptive behavior” instead.
History and Etymology
In 1990, Bruce K. Alexander published “The Empirical and Theoretical Bases for an Adaptive Model of Addiction” that argued addiction itself can be an adaptive mechanism to certain psychosocial circumstances. Virtually by definition, addiction is considered a pattern of substance or process use that an individual feels compelled to continue even after observing the consequences and wishing to stop. It seems logical at face value to consider it maladaptive by definition, but Alexander’s paper asks us to consider what the development of an addiction might be an adaptation to.
Recall that “adaptive” doesn’t mean healthy or normal, but just a choice that appears to be the best in a particular circumstance. Someone who experiences uncontrollable panic attacks might adapt by drinking often, which might increase baseline anxiety and irritability but decrease the occurrence of these attacks. Someone who lives in cycles of poverty without a clear way out might adapt through substance use, which provides extremely reliable pleasure and relief in a community where no other kind might be available, particularly if the individual is struggling with other health issues like Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and lacks access to adequate interventions. Someone trapped in an abusive and traumatizing environment might similarly use substances as the only method to feel in control of their own experiences.
With this framework, we can consider more options both prevention and treatment than assuming the problem lies solely in a brain that learned the “wrong” lessons.