Coping strategies are learned by observing others, most often our parents.  Adaptive coping strategies are productive and work to resolve the situation and produce long-term positive results.  For the ill patient, adaptive behaviors help the person adjust to the illness, solve problems, and cooperate with the therapeutic program.  Maladaptive strategies are counterproductive and result in additional problems that set the person up to be placed back in similar situations, leading to further challenges.   Active coping is a healthy promotional strategy that is characterized by actively facing the problem and seeking resources to resolve the situation, i.e. seeking help, seeking information, problem solving, etc.