A Comparitive Study of Quality of Life among Adolescent with Bipolar Affective Disorder, Skin Disease and Normal Controls

Quality of Life (QOL) measures are useful methods to understand the impact of illness and outcome of treatment. The aim of any therapeutic intervention is not just symptom alleviation but overall improvement. The number of studies on the Quality of Life in bipolar affective disorder, especially in adolescent, is very less considering the prevalence rate of this disorder. Material and In the present study effort has been made to understand the QOL among adolescent patients with Bipolar Affective Disorder (BPAD) (N=30), skin diseases (N=30) and normal controls (N=30). They were rated on WHOQOL BREF. Results of statistical analysis indicates that patients with BPAD have been found to have poorer QOL than adolescent with skin diseases and normal controls. Understanding the quality of life of psychiatric illness like BPAD vis a vis other medical disorders like skin disease (which is usually a chronic disease and QOL is reported to be poor in it also) throws new light in terms of the impact of illness, course, out come and intervention strategies.