Psychopathology among Primary Caregivers of Major Psychiatric Patients

Background:Perceived stigma and experiencing different kinds of burden for long time by primary caregivers during caring family member suffering from major psychiatric illness may affects their mental health. Present study was conducted to find out the nature of psychopathology experienced by primary caregivers of major psychiatric patients. Material & Method: Forty-four caregivers of major psychiatric patients were selected from outdoor psychiatric unit of Ranchi Institute of Neuro-Psychiatry and Allied Sciences, Ranchi and forty-one normal controls were selected from different location of Ranchi district. They were assessed on Symptoms Checklist–90–Revised (SCL-90) and General Health Questionnaire – 28 (GHQ-28). Statistical analysis was done using SPSS (13.0 ver.). Result: The result suggests that primary caregivers experience psychopathology, namely, somatization, obsessive compulsive symptoms, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, anger hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation and social dysfunction while caring someone family member suffering from major psychiatric illness and the number of caregivers in family definitely has an impact on severity of the caregivers’ psychopathology. Total duration of patient’s treatment and total duration of patient’s illness also affect caregiver’s phobic anxiety and number of patient’s hospitalization affects caregivers’ social dysfunction as well. Conclusion:Findings suggest that mental health issues of caregivers should also be addressed while formulating management plan for patients suffering from major psychiatric disorders.