Mental Health Issues among Spouses of Patients with Psychiatric Disorders

Abstract

Objectives: The present study aims to examine the mental health status with specific focus on the dimensions of psychological distress and psychological well-being in spouses of patients with psychiatric disorders and compare with the normal control group by using Mental Health Inventory.

Methods and Materials: Two hypotheses were formulated: 1) The Level of psychological distress would be higher in spouses of patients with psychiatric disorder than spouses of normal adults, 2) The level of psychological well-being would be lower in spouses of patients with psychiatric disorder than the spouses of normal adults. The Mental Health Inventory (MHI-38; Veit & Ware, 1983) was administered to measure the level of psychological distress and psychological well-being in two above mentioned two groups.

Findings: The t-test was computed by using Statistical package of social sciences (SPSS version: 19). The results indicated, high level of psychological distress [t(178)=10.536, p<.001] and low psychological well-being [t(178)=-13.989,    p< .001] in spouses of patients with psychiatric disorders as compared to spouses of normal adults.

Implications: Findings of the current study have implications for the clinical interventions and help professionals to provide counseling for the caregivers in order to enhance their coping which will in return help to have good prognosis of the patients with psychiatric disorder.