Caregiving burden and psychological distress among spouses of bipolar patients - comparative analysis of subtype I and II

Aim. To assess the level of caregiving burden and psychological distress among spouses of bipolar disorder - BD (type I and II) patients. Methods. 77 subjects (41 women and 36 men) were enrolled in the study - 44 spouses of bipolar I (BD I) patients and 33 spouses of bipolar II (BD II). The whole group was divided into 4 subgroups: (I) the wives of BD I patients: n= 27, (II) the husbands of BD I patients: n= 17, (III) the wives of BD II patients: n= 14, (IV) the husbands of BD II patients: n= 19. The research methods: Involvement Evaluation Questionnaire - IEQ and General Health Questionnaire - GHQ-12. Results. Manic phase of BD I is more burdensome than episodes of depressed mood (BD I) and hypomania (BD II). Depression in BD II results in a significantly greater burden than hypomania. Spouses of BD I patients experience a higher level of burden. Women are generally more burdened with the patient care regardless of the episode. Partners of bipolar patients (type I and II) experience the same high level of psychological distress. Conclusions. The specific types of bipolar disorder (I and II) have the different impact on partners, which affects their subjective and objective burden and relationship with patients, indicating a real need to offer them an adequate help, depending on subtype of patient's bipolar disorder, as well as the spouse sex.