The coping flexibility of neurasthenia and depressive patients

This research performed a comparison between the coping flexibility of neurasthenia and depressive patients with that of participants in the control groups. The Coping Flexibility Questionnaire was administered to 100 neurasthenia and 100 depressive patients as well as their corresponding control groups. Results of the two studies indicated that: (1) compared with the control group, neurasthenia patients’ coping flexibility proved to be partially impaired, including cognitive flexibility and coping effectiveness. (2) Depressive patients’ coping flexibility suffered a more severe level of impairment and exhibited decreases in almost every respect, including perceived controllability, cognitive flexibility, strategy-situation fit, and coping effectiveness. The theoretical and clinical implications of this study are proposed while the limitations of the current research are discussed.