Anxiety, Depression and Coping Mechanisms in Caregivers of Psychiatric Patients

Abstract

Background. Many caregivers that serve mentally sick patients suffer from depression and anxiety and can use maladaptive coping strategies that necessarily worsen their outcomes. To gain some understanding of these psychological issues caregivers of psychiatric patients were assessed.

Method. With a systematic random sampling technique 56 male and 111 female caregivers (N = 167) were drawn that completed Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition (Beck et al., 1996), Beck Anxiety Inventory (Steer et al., 1993) and Brief COPE inventory (Carver et al., 1989) along with demographic variables.

Results. About half (50%) or 84 caregivers suffered from mild to severe depression, and less than half (~46%) or 76 had mild to severe anxiety. Most patients utilized Problem-Focused coping, followed by Emotion-Focused and Dysfunctional coping.

Conclusion. The study replicates prevalence of depression and anxiety in caregivers in Pakistan and other countries.

Keywords. Caregivers, anxiety, depression, coping strategies, problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, dysfunctional coping, psychiatric patients.