Emotional Issues and Coping Strategies of Family Members of Patients Experiencing Depression

Depression affects almost every aspect of a person’s life including the mood, thought and perception of the world, interest in daily activities and interaction with people around him. Family members play a significant role in the treatment and management of patients experiencing depression. However, multiple studies have suggested that they often experience various emotional issues in the process of care giving. Therefore, exploration about family members’ emotional issues and the coping strategies used by them would be helpful in identifying the need of the family members, so as to design strategies to meet their needs. A qualitative phenomenological design has been adopted to conduct the study with the aim of exploring the emotional issues and coping strategies of family members of patients experiencing depression. The study was carried out among the family caregivers of persons with depression currently under treatment in OPD of a Mental Health Institute in India. The family members of patients diagnosed with Depressive episode and taking treatment from a Mental Health Institute in India were selected through purposive sampling technique. Written consents from the respondents have been collected before data collection. Data was collected through in-depth interviews from respondents using an interview guide. Analysis of data has been done by thematic analysis. The identified emotional issues experienced by the family members were frustration, guilt feeling, fear, worry, and burden. Identified coping strategies used by the family members to deal with their emotional issues were denial, spending time alone, drinking, praying, and doing same household works repeatedly.