خانواده، اصلی ترین مأمن بیماران افسرده

Objective: Depression is the most common mood disorder. Today, family has main responsibility in caring of psychiatric patients. For ensuring best care for depressed patients, families require social and health systems supports. The aim of this study was to explain the experiences of the families about function of these supportive sources. Materials & Methods: This is a qualitative research carried out using conventional content analysis method. Twenty-four family members of the patients suffering from depression and referred to Razi psychiatric clinic in Tehran were selected using purposeful sampling. Unstructured and in-depth interviews were applied to collect data. The interviews were transcribed and constant comparison analysis was applied. MaxQDA 2007 software was used to manage the data. Results: According to the family experiences, social and health support resources are not comprehensive and efficient. The performances of the supporting sources have been extracted in four themes. These themes include: “incorrect viewpoints of the society”, “inadequate support”, "ineffective health system”, “economic–cognitive deficiency of the families” that they were the main themes. Conclusion: During the process of depressed patient care, families find themselves alone. They need to access to have easy comprehensive support systems. In addition, health team must implement the follow up programs regularly and dynamically.