The burden of relatives of psychiatric patients: Comparisons between parents, spouses, and grown-up children of voluntarily and compulsorily admitted psychiatric patients

Abstract

As part of an ongoing study of the quality of the mental health services in two Swedish county councils, relatives of both voluntarily and compulsorily admitted patients were interviewed with regard to family burden. The aims of this part of the study were to investigate differences in burden between subgroups of relatives, differences in family burden between 1986 and 1991, and differences between relatives of voluntarily and compulsorily admitted patients. The relatives investigated consisted of 79 spouses, 118 parents, and 31 grown-up children. The results showed that relatives of severely mentally ill persons have a considerable amount of burden, of both an external and a psychologic internal nature. Subjective burden was generally more pronounced than objective external burden. Spouses had to a greater extent external burdens. Relatives experienced more internal burden in 1986 and more external burden in 1991. There were no differences between relatives of voluntarily and compulsorily admitted patients. It is concluded that the psychiatric services in their work with relatives have to consider the specific burden of different subgroups of relatives.