Self-stigma is a maladaptive psychosocial phenomenon that may disturb many areas of patient's life. In connection with maladaptive coping strategies should make mental health recovery more difficult. Specific coping strategies may be connected with the self-stigma and also with the severity of the disorder. The objective of the study was to explore the relationship between coping strategies, the severity of the disorder and self-stigma in outpatients with depressive disorder.

Eighty-one outpatients, who met ICD-10 criteria for depressive disorders, were enrolled in the cross-sectional study. Data on sociodemographic and clinical variables were recorded. All probands completed standardized measurements: The Stress Coping Style Questionnaire (SVF-78), the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness Scale (ISMI), and the Clinical Global Impression (CGI).

The patients with depression overuse negative coping strategies, especially escape tendency and resignation. Using of positive coping is in average level. Coping strategies are significantly associated with the self-stigma. Negative coping (especially resignation and self-accusation) increase the self-stigma, using of positive coping (primarily underestimation, reaction control, and positive self-instruction) have a positive impact to decreased self-stigma. The level of self-stigma correlated positively with total symptom severity score.

The present study revealed the important association between coping strategies and self-stigma in outpatients with depressive disorders. Decreasing the use of negative strategies, and strengthening the use of positive coping may have a positive impact to self-stigma reduction.