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Caring and its Burdens

A Study of the Spouses of Depressed Patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Grainne Fadden ,
Paul Bebbington  and
Liz Kuipers
Grainne Fadden*
Affiliation:
St Columba's Hospital, Sligo
Paul Bebbington
Affiliation:
MRC Social Psychiatry Unit
Liz Kuipers
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry
*
∗Correspondence
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Abstract

Spouses of 24 patients suffering from persistent depression were interviewed to find out how they were affected by the patient's illness. These effects were marked, although mainly endured without complaint, and included restrictions in social and leisure activities, a fall in family income, and a considerable strain on marital relationships. Some of the behaviour shown by patients was hard to bear, and ‘negative’ symptoms such as misery, withdrawal, and worrying commonly caused problems. Few relatives, however, know how to deal with difficult behaviour. Despite this, the majority remained committed to staying with the patient. Spouses had a variety of complaints about the way they were handled by hospital staff, particularly about being deprived of information and advice. These results have considerable implications for the way in which relatives should be dealt with as part of the overall management of persistent depression.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 151 , Issue 5 , November 1987 , pp. 660 - 667
Copyright
Copyright © 1987 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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