Perspectives of relatives of psychiatric patients

Abstract

The relatives of psychiatric patients can have a strong influence on the outcome of the treatment process. Modification of these perspectives can prevent a likely relapse or poor prognosis. We conducted the study among the relatives of depression and psychotic patients. 30 relatives of depressed and psychotic patients were included and a control group matching age, gender and education level were evaluated. Two questionnaires prepared by the authors were used to evaluation. Results showed that relatives attribute the causes of the disorders mainly to personal and biological causes than familial or esoteric causes. There were slight difference between the two groups regarding etiologic questions, but while relatives of depressed patients reported mostly personality issues for treatment, relatives of psychotic patients reported biological treatments. The results indicated that a regular and structured education programe is needed to cope wih irrevelant attribution of relatives.