‘I wanted to bring together what we know about how we cope and, through that, provide a template for a good life’.

No one thinks about how well they’re coping with life’s daily stresses, until they’re not. Coping in Good Times and Bad brings together what we know about coping so we can create a life of health, joy, satisfaction, resilience and wellbeing. ‘Coping’ and ‘resilience’ have become very commonly used words, especially in our COVID-impacted world, but what we need is a template for a good life.

Decades of research, teaching and professional practice have provided psychologist Erica Frydenberg with intimate insight into how and why we cope well and not so well, and practical ways of developing and refining our coping strategies. Integrating coping with key proven ideas in contemporary psychology, such as emotional intelligence, mindset, mindfulness and grit, she goes beyond focusing on particular kinds of crisis (trauma, relationship breakdown, anxiety), and addresses the need for a framework that strengthens us through life, in good times and bad.