Psychopathological Symptoms in Caregivers of Patients With Vegetative State

Background: Taking care of patients in a vegetative state is a great challenge and affects the mental health of the caregivers. Objectives: This study aimed to determine the psychopathological symptoms in caregivers of patients with Vegetative State (VS) and determine the demographic and social predictors of the common symptoms. Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in an educational hospital in the north of Iran from 2012 to 2013. The psychopathological symptoms of 80 caregivers of VS patients were evaluated by Symptom Checklist-Revised (SCL-90-R) questionnaire. Results were analyzed using SPSS (Version 18) by the Mann-Whitney U test. Finally, the predictors of psychopathological symptoms were determined through a simple regression model. Results: The highest scores of the psychological symptoms were of the depression subscale (2.88±0.86) and somatoform subscale (2.85±0.83). The psychopathological symptoms including somatoform (P=0.012), obsessive-compulsive (P=0.032), depression (P=0.035), anxiety (P=0.027), phobia (P=0.015), and paranoid ideations (P=0.027) were significantly higher in women than in men. However, there was no significant relationship between these symptoms and marital status. The simple regression model showed that none of the sociodemographic variables could predict psychopathological symptoms in the caregivers. Conclusion: A significant number of caregivers had psychopathological symptoms, especially depression and somatoform complaints.