Our data affirm the association of specific coping strategies with depression, anxiety, general physical and mental symptoms, and QoL in STN-DBS candidates. Patients with impaired cognition, especially poor executive functioning, used ineffective coping strategies more often. Characterizing coping is simple and helps identify patients who may benefit from additional support to reinforce effective strategies, possibly leading to a less burdensome pre-surgical trajectory.
Kuiper et al. (Thu,) studied this question.