Aim of the study:
The aim of this study was to investigate differences in coping styles between individuals at ultra high risk for psychosis, with first episode psychosis, chronic schizophrenia and healthy controls.

Subject or material and methods:
A total of 167 individuals with chronic schizophrenia (CHS; n=66), first episode psychosis (FEP; n=31), at ultra high risk for psychosis (UHR; n=16) and healthy controls (HC; n=54) were recruited to complete the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS) to investigate their preferred coping styles. Demographic data were collected using a short self-designed questionnaire.

Results:
Our results demonstrated all participants’ preference for mixed coping (i.e. a strategy in which two or three styles are applied with similar frequency). The second choice across the control group was task-oriented, and in the clinical groups - emotion-oriented coping. Interestingly, task-oriented coping was significantly more frequent in controls relative to the clinical groups, while the frequency of emotion-oriented coping did not differ significantly across our sample. Avoidance-oriented coping was reported significantly more frequently in the CHS compared to both HC and UHR.

Discussion:
This study demonstrates differences in coping with stressful situations between patients at various stages of psychosis and healthy individuals.

Conclusions:
Therapeutic interventions for patients from the psychosis spectrum should include education on coping with stress and practical training of coping skills.