A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF DISABILITY AND ITS BURDEN ON FAMILY MEMBERS OF BIPOLAR AND UNIPOLAR DEPRESSION PATIENTS

AIMS AND OBJECTIVE The primary purpose of this study is to compare the disability and its burden on the family members or caregivers of patients with bipolar and unipolar depression. METHODOLOGY The study was carried out in thirty cases of Bipolar and Unipolar depressive patients and their healthy relatives residing with the patient since last one year. Comparisons were made under various headings between Unipolar and Bipolar groups. Obtained Data were analysed by using unpaired 't' test, Pearson's correlation coefficient and z-score. RESULTS On applying IDEAS (Indian Disability Evaluation Assessment Scale), the mean scores were very low in bipolar depressed patients in comparison to unipolar depressed patients for the self-care(1.33 and 0.57), interpersonal activities(1.83 and 1.13), communication and understanding(1.80 and 0.87), work(2.63 and 1.10) and global disability score(11.50 and 7.43) and were statistically significant(p<0.001). The family burden was 33.76 and 23.57 in Bipolar depression and Unipolar depression using Family Burden Interview scale and was statistically significant (p<0.001). No statistically significant correlation was found between socio-demographic factors, disability and family burden in both study and control group. CONCLUSION Bipolar depressive patients were significantly more disabled than patients with unipolar depression in all parameters of disability scale. Families of Bipolar depressive patients experienced significantly greater burden in comparison to families of patients with unipolar depression.