Burden experienced by care-givers of persons with bipolar affective disorder

Abstract

Care-givers of patients with bipolar illness report widespread burden that is influenced by beliefs about the illness.

Quality of life in caregivers of patients with bipolar mood disorder with current manic episode and its correlation with severity of illness

“…In our study we found quality of life to be moderately low in the caregivers. This is similar to the findings by Allison M. R. Lee et al [12], Perlick DA et al [13], , M. Reinares et al [14], Ogilvie AD et al [15], Heru AM et al [16], S.Chakrabarti et al [6], D Perlick et al [17] who have reported moderate to high levels of burden among caregivers of Bipolar patients.…”

“…Perlick DA et al [13] found that 89%, 52%, and 61% of caregivers, respectively, experienced moderate or higher burden in relation to patient problem behaviors, role dysfunction, or disruption of household routine. S.Chakrabarti et al [17], T Y G Van Der Voort et al [22] found severity of illness among patients to be correlated consistently with severity of burden in caregivers. M. Reinares et al [14] reported that caregiver's highest subjective burden was associated with patient's hyperactivity and irritability.…”

Preferential association between childhood emotional abuse and bipolar disorder

“…These clinical features might induce dysfunctional parental attitudes and this burden is likely to lead to inappropriate discipline and in certain conditions to abuse. Furthermore, caregivers of bipolar patients exhibit high levels of expressed emotion, including critical, hostile, or over-involved attitudes (Heru & Ryan, 2004;Ogilvie, Morant, & Goodwin, 2005;Perlick et al, 1999;Romero, Delbello, Soutullo, Stanford, & Strakowski, 2005). Finally, the association between emotional abuse and bipolar disorder might be related to parental psychopathological traits.…”

Which factors influence the psychological distress among relatives of patients with chronic functional psychoses? An exploratory study in a community mental health care setting

“…Researchers asked for consent to provide written materials about the research project to relatives/closest reference persons identified by the patient (note: patients with co-morbid neurological and severe medical disorders were excuded). Each relative met at least three of the following eligibility criteria (Perlick et al 1999): parent or spouse/ partner or sibling or child of the patient, person providing the most frequent contacts with the patient, person who will be informed by the caring institution in case of any emergency, person assisting the patient in dealing with financial issues and person who most frequently accompanies the patient to medical treatments. For study inclusion the patient and at least one of the eligible relatives/closest reference persons provided written informed consent.…”

“…The number of such studies is still insufficient, however, and most have only interviewed relatives of patients with schizophrenic disorders. In consideration of the prevalence of patients with chronic affective disorders (e.g., Jacobi et al 2004) and the increasing evidence on the burden of relatives when informally taking care of patients with recurrent depressive and bipolar disorders (e.g., Jenkins and Schumacher 1999;Mueser et al 1996;Perlick et al 1999;Schmid et al 2007), there is a clear need for such research in these groups of relatives.…”