Effect of Marriage on Clinical Outcome of Persons with Bipolar Affective Disorder: A Case-control Study

Background: Whether marriage can cure mental illness has been a topic of discussion since many years. Marriage can impact on either way on a person’s life. Often, mental health professionals are faced with having to give advice regarding the marriage of a person suffering from bipolar disorder. There is a belief in the community that marriage is a solution to all the mental illness. Aim: To know the impact of marriage on clinical outcome of persons with bipolar affective disorder. Materials and Methods: A total of 55 case subjects who got married whilst under treatment, and who fulfilled the selection criteria (bipolar affective disorderICD-10 Criteria for Research) were selected consecutively. Similarly, 55 patients who are never married were selected as control subjects. Brief psychiatric rating scale (BPRS) was used to find out the clinical outcome of patients. Data were collected over a period of one and a 1⁄2 year. The study was started after taking approval from institute ethical committee. The analysis was done using Chi-square test. Observations and Results: It was found that in comparison to never married bipolar controls (23.6%) more than double number (52.7%) of married cases were having a longer duration of illness (>5 years). There were more episodes (3 to 5) in married subjects 41.8% as compared to never married subjects (20%). BPRS mean scores showed that there was no significant difference in the severity of mental illness among married and unmarried subjects. Conclusion: Married persons had experienced more episodes of illness and for longer duration. Males are more prone for illness than females in both groups (married and never married). Marriage did not influence the severity of illness in persons with bipolar affective disorder.