Expressed Emotion, Quality of Life, and Burden of Caregivers

Schizophrenia and Bipolar Affective disorder are among the most prevalent mental disorder in India and families play important role in caregiving of these illnesses. Due to long-term caregiving is required in these disorders caregiving changes to burden leading to change of behavior and attitude of the caregiver towards the ill person which is termed as expressed emotion. Experience of expressed emotion from the family members, the patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder often become stressed and also experience multiple relapses due to it. The quality of life of the patients as well as their caregivers also gets declined. The present study was designed mainly to assess the burden on the families of a particular group of patients namely those with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Further various parameters e.g. socio-demographic factors illness variables etc., which could have influenced the type and degree of burden, are also studied.