Coping strategies and individual meanings of illness.

Every person has a subjective understanding of their own illness. The personal attitude towards disease and the corresponding coping mechanisms go beyond biomedical factors to influence the course of the disease. Lipowski described eight different disease concepts which were supplemented by the theory of control conviction (external-internal control). Several hypotheses about disease concepts, coping strategies and psychopathology were globally confirmed in a study of 205 chronic patients: Ability to control and acceptance lead to a more active and problem-related coping, whereas emotional coping modi occur more often in persons who do not accept their illness or do not consider it to be controllable. Results confirm the necessity of a differentiated analysis.