TY - JOUR
T1 - Stress and coping responses to a natural disaster in people with schizophrenia
AU - Horan, William P.
AU - Ventura, Joseph
AU - Mintz, Jim
AU - Kopelowicz, Alex
AU - Wirshing, Donna
AU - Christian-Herman, Jennifer
AU - Foy, David
AU - Liberman, Robert P.
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2008 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2007/5/30
Y1 - 2007/5/30
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Bipolar disorder
KW - Coping
KW - Disaster
KW - Methodology
KW - Schizophrenia
KW - Stress
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=34247398814&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=34247398814&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.psychres.2006.10.009
DO - 10.1016/j.psychres.2006.10.009
M3 - Article
C2 - 17382405
AN - SCOPUS:34247398814
VL - 151
SP - 77
EP - 86
JO - Psychiatry Research
JF - Psychiatry Research
SN - 0165-1781
IS - 1-2
ER -