Coping Strategies and Their Relationship to Psychopathologies in People at Ultra High-Risk for Psychosis and With Schizophrenia

Abstract

This study's aim was to investigate coping strategies and their relationship to symptoms in people at ultra high risk (UHR) for psychosis compared with recent-onset schizophrenia (SPR) and healthy controls. Thirty-three UHR participants, 22 SPR patients, and 33 healthy controls completed the Ways of Coping Questionnaire and other clinical measures. People at UHR for psychosis showed significantly more reliance on tension-reduction and less reliance on problem-focused coping than healthy controls. The SPR group showed more reliance on tension-reduction coping than healthy controls at a trend level. Maladaptive coping patterns were associated with higher levels of negative symptoms, depression, and anxiety in both the UHR and SPR groups. These findings suggest that maladaptive coping strategies might have already emerged in the (putative) prodromal stage and could influence symptom severities.