Anxiety and depressive symptoms in primary caregivers of patients with severe depression: A snapshot from a military mental health care facility

Objectives: To determine the frequency and severity of anxiety and depressive symptoms in primary caregivers of severely depressed patients and evaluate the impact of demographic factors. Methodology:It was a cross-sectional study conducted at Armed Forces institute of Mental Health, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, from September 2009 to May 2012. Through non-probability purposive sampling, primary caregivers of patients diagnosed with severe depression by consultant psychiatrists were included and scored by resident psychiatrists on Revised Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) and BeckAnxiety Inventory (BAI). Results: Of 316 caregivers (mean age: 37.75 1226 years), majority (52.8%) were females, married (70.6%), employed (58.5%), earned <Rs. 5,000 per month (40.5%) and literate from grade 1-5 (21.8%). Most of them were mothers (25.3%) of the patients and were the caregivers for less than one year (43.4%). The mean total BDI-11 score was 17.29 13.94.1t was significantly high in subjects belonging to age group of < 44 years. The mean total BAlscore was 14.44 11.56 and it was not significantly related to any demographic factor. Conclusion: Caregivers of severely depressed patients suffered considerable levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms. Younger caregivers were at higher risk of developing depressive symptoms but the age did not significantly affect development of anxiety. Gender, marital status, employment status, monthly income, relationship with the patient, ethnicity based on provinces, educational level and duration of caregiving did not appear to be significantly related to the development of anxiety or depressive symptoms.