N ormal social interaction focuses attention to the face so that orofacial anomalies are extremely distracting. As a result it has been suggested that individuals with orofacial anomalies constitute a large proportion of the handicapped patients suffering psychologic disturbances.‘-4 This psychologic disturbance is not a direct function of the anomaly but a matter of faulty coping with self and societal expectations. Coping may be considered in a number of ways. MOOS’ believes coping techniques are not inherently adaptive or maladaptive. Rather, it is the appropriateness of a technique for a given situation which is important. Coping skills which are appropriate in one situation may not be useful in another. Lazarus and associate@ also assume situational variation in coping skills. Th ey view coping strategies as a “response to the perception of some threatening condition, and of potential avenues of solution or mastery, designed to actualize some promise or to take the organism out of jeopardy.“6 Several researchers and theorists of coping skills have emphasized the importance of social supports and self-esteem in the coping process. The patient’s family members and friends can provide positive models of coping support and the justification for a choice of specific coping techniques. Self-esteem can be viewed as a function of the feeling that one is &ccessfully coping with a situation. One of the difficulties in measuring coping is the choice among diverse operationalizations of this concept. The most popular approach is the focused semistructural interview or self-report measure. However, prior to defining coping in individuals with orofacial anomalies, it is necessary to collect