It is widely recognized that stress plays a key role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia, little is known regarding the level of stress and kind of coping strategies used by patients with schizophrenia. This study was carried out with the aim to assess the stress and coping among patients with schizophrenia. The present study was conducted at Athma Mind Centre, Trichy. It was a cross sectional hospital based study. The sample comprised of 30 patients with schizophrenia, who has remitted from active psychopathology. The following tools were used for the current study: Socio-demographic data sheet and Stressful Life Events questionnaire developed by Dr. Latha Satish (1997) and coping checklist The result shows that majority (60%) of the of patient with schizophrenia between the age group of 18-35 years, 56% of the patients were, 76% of the patients were married, 36.7% of the patients were belonging to Hindu religion, majority 46.7% were studied up to primary, and majority of patients 60% were from rural background. The study finding shows that majority of the (56.7 %) of the respondents have experienced high level of stress. It is also said that the patients with schizophrenia used less coping or maladaptive coping in all the domains of coping checklist. The findings of the present study indicate that patients with schizophrenia experience high level of stress and poor coping skills, so they need to be given proper attention and psychosocial intervention to reduce their stress and increase their coping skills.
