Family Functioning in Mental Illness: A Study in Thai Families with Depressive Disorders and Schizophrenia

Objective: To examine differences in family functioning between the families of patients with depressive disorders and with schizophrenia. Method: Families of patients with the diagnoses of depressive disorders and the diagnosis of schizophrenia were compared, n = 30 each group. The instruments included a semistructured interview instrument of family functioning and the Chulalongkorn Family Inventory (CFI), which is a self-report questionnaire in the Thai language designed to assess the perception of one's family. Results: From the assessment with the semistructured interview instrument 96.7% of the families of patients with depressive disorders and 70.0% of the families of patients with schizophrenia were found to be dysfunctional. The difference was statistically significant (p < .01). The average number of dysfunctional dimensions in depressed families was significantly higher than in the schizophrenic group, 4.3 +/- 1.2 and 2.4 +/- 2.2 dimensions, respectively, p < .001. The dysfunctions were mostly in the following dimensions: problem solving, communication, affective responsiveness, and affective involvement. The mean CFI score of the depressed families was 86.07 (SD = 16.44) and that of the schizophrenic group was 105.97 (SD = 17.76), which reflected worse family functioning in the depressed group. However, the difference was not statistically significant. The analysis of psychosocial stressors found that depressed families faced more stressors and the average number of stressors was higher than for schizophrenic families, 4.9 +/- 2.7 and 3.5 +/- 2.6 stressors, respectively, p < .05. Conclusion: Different types of mental illness are associated with different patterns of family functioning. Families of depressed patients had less healthy functioning and faced more stressors than families of schizophrenic patients. Taking these differences into account will enable family therapists to intervene more effectively.