Proposes that it may be useful to reconceptualize social support as coping assistance. If the same coping strategies used by individuals in response to stress are those that are applied to distressed persons as assistance, models of coping and support can be integrated. To illustrate the utility of such an integration, coping strategies and support strategies are derived from a more general theory of stress-buffering processes. A variety of supportive strategies not previously identified by researchers are derived, such as situational reinterpretations, deliberate distraction, drug therapy, and mutual role-playing. Predictions regarding efficacious and nonefficacious types of support are made, and empathic understanding (based on sociocultural and situational similarities between a distressed person and a helper) is identified as a crucial condition for coping assistance to be sought, accepted, and found effective.(64 ref)(PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)