STAGES OF COPING AFTER STROKE

People who suffer a stroke most often experience a major crisis in the ir lives. This leads to psychological problems which are likely to inf luence the patient's life satifaction, long-term rehabilitation outcom e, and quality of life as much as the physical consequences caused by the stroke. The patient's ability to accept the new reality created by a disability as a part of their future life is therefore essential. T his necessitates an individual coping strategy in the center of which is a mourning process, which unfolds in the same way as other experien ces of vital threat, e.g. confrontation with one's own dying. Differen t stages of mourning that can also be found in stroke patients are non acceptance of the facts, erupting emotions, parting with the former an d finding of a new self as well as new perspectives for one's future. Whether a coping process is successful does not depend on the type of the defense mechanisms or stages, but essentially on their persistence . It is the task of the therapeutical team to support this process by applying a basic therapeutic behavior, stage-consistent interventions and a positive feedback. A failed process of coping may be one of the causes of the high prevalence of psychological disorders like depressi on and anxiety disorders in patients having suffered a stroke.