title: Stress and coping responses to a natural disaster in people with schizophrenia.
abstract: Investigations of how individuals with schizophrenia differ from non-patients in their responses to stressful life events are subject to the criticism that any between-group differences might merely reflect differences in the types of stressful events that each group experiences. This report presents new analyses of data collected from schizophrenia patients (n=96), bipolar disorder patients (n=18), and healthy controls (n=18) immediately after the Northridge Earthquake that struck Southern California in 1994, a natural experiment that confronted all groups with the same stressful event. Participants completed the Impact of Events Scale (IES; [Horowitz, M.J., Wilner, N., Alvarez, W., 1979. Impact of Events Scale. A measure of subjective stress. Psychosomatic Medicine 41, 209-218]) at 1 week and 5 weeks post-earthquake. At the 5-week follow-up, measures of coping, social support, and self-esteem were also completed. Both patient groups reported higher IES avoidance symptoms than controls immediately after the earthquake. The schizophrenia group also reported lower approach coping, self-esteem, and social support than controls, with the bipolar group reporting intermediate levels. Within the schizophrenia group, higher levels of avoidance coping predicted higher residual stress symptoms at follow-up. Results support the validity of prior reports of altered responses to stressful life events in schizophrenia and demonstrate the clinical relevance of individual differences in coping among affected individuals.
authors: Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. horan@ucla.edu
authors: William P
authors: WP
authors: Horan
authors: Joseph
authors: J
authors: Ventura
authors: Jim
authors: J
authors: Mintz
authors: Alex
authors: A
authors: Kopelowicz
authors: Donna
authors: D
authors: Wirshing
authors: Jennifer
authors: J
authors: Christian-Herman
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Foy
authors: Robert P
authors: RP
authors: Liberman
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D004190:Disasters; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012649:Self Concept; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires