Families coping with schizophrenia: coping styles, their origins and correlates

An analysis of the coping styles adopted by relatives of schizophrenic patients has been identified by many reviewers as essential to an understanding of the complex interactions between patient and caregiver and to the origins of relatives' expressed emotion (EE). This study reports a taxonomy of coping behaviour derived from interviews with relatives of schizophrenic patients. It was found that relatives adopted broad styles of coping across all areas of patients' behaviour change. Relationships were uncovered between the styles and (a) relatives perceived control, burden and stress, (b) patients' social functioning, severity of behavioural disturbance and progress of the illness. It is suggested that advising relatives of changes in their coping styles in the course of family intervention must be tempered by an understanding of their origins in patients' behaviour. Further research is recommended to identify the coping styles associated with the high EE/low EE research classification.