Family functioning among depressive and dissociative (conversion) patients.

OBJECTIVE To campare the family functioning, level of depression, anxiety and histrionic personality traits among depressive and dissociative (conversion) patients. STUDY DESIGN A cross-sectional study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY The Psychiatry Unit of Government Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar, on depressive and dissociative (conversion) patients admitted from January to May 2004. METHODOLOGY Purposive sampling technique was used for the assignment of 75 patients (n=75) with depressive illness and 75 patients (n=75) with dissociative (conversion) disorders groups who fulfilled International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision (ICD 10), criteria. Test package was administered individually to all the patients and scores compared for the groups. RESULTS On family APGAR scale, no significant difference (t=-2.472, p=0.16) was found between the scores of the two groups. Patients with depressive illness scored high on Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression with mean score of 26.92 and on Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety with mean score of 23.45, while dissociative group scored high on Hysteria (Hy) sub-scale of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) with mean score of 13.17. CONCLUSION Dysfunctional family pattern is one of the contributing factor in developing and maintaining mental illnesses like depression and dissociative (conversion) disorders.