Seventy-six male patients with ankylosing spondylitis (SA) and sixteen healthy controls were assessed for their stress coping mechanisms. As compared to healthy controls, the coping behaviour of the patients with SA was characterized by a significantly higher degree of playing down the stressful situation through comparison with others and by more substitutive gratification; they also showed less self-accusation and resignation. These coping mechanisms apparently do not change significantly in the course of the illness, as in our study we found that patients with different durations of illness did not differ from each other with regard to the coping strategies they used. When comparing the different strategies of coping the subjective intensity of pain, we found at a low intensity of pain a significant positive correlation with the strategies of 'playing down the stressful situation through comparison with others' and 'positive self-instruction', and a negative correlation with 'self-accusation'.