Assessment of Coping with Schizophrenia

Abstract

The analysis of schizophrenic persons' attempts at coping with their disease has developed into a fertile research area over the last few years. Results are expected that may lead to a better understanding of specific psychopathological phenomena, and hopes are raised for improvements in specific therapeutic programmes (cf. Böker & Brenner, 1983; Wiedl & Schöttner, 1989a). Previous studies have shown that schizophrenics use many different strategies to cope with their disease. Sometimes conflicting results deal with the frequency of specific ways of coping, their orientation to specific symptoms or strains, their relationship to the course of the disease and the nosological classification of the patients, and finally, with their suitability or usefulness (cf. Wiedl & Schöttner, 1989b). Altogether, these investigations have contributed to correcting the image of the schizophrenic as a person who is passive and helpless against his/her illness, and have expanded the scope of knowledge in psychiatry and clinical psychology (cf. Strauss, 1989a,b).