Differences in coping strategies in adult patients with bipolar disorder and their first-degree relatives in comparison to healthy controls.

Introduction: The objective of this study was to compare patients with bipolar disorder (BD), their first-degree relatives and a group of healthy controls in terms of use of adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies, exploring differences between specific types of strategies and their correlations with clinical variables.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study enrolling 36 euthymic patients with BD, 39 of their first-degree relatives and 44 controls. Coping strategies were assessed using the Brief COPE scale.