Who is more Depressed?: A Study among Persons with Disability

The objective of the present study was to ascertain the level of depression among persons with physical disability and to compare it with their normal counterparts (persons without any disability). Again the study investigated the impact of gender on the depressive feeling of the disabled persons. For the said purpose the study was carried out among 100 individuals. Among them 50 were persons with physical disability and rest were normal subjects. The persons with physical disability were selected purposively from DDRC (District Disability Rehabilitation Centre) Agartala and the matched normal population was also selected purposively from Agartala town. Beck Depression Inventory was used for data collection. Findings revealed that the persons with physical disability had high level of depression in comparison to their normal counterparts. Further the visually disabled persons possessed more depression than the persons with locomotor disability. However the study did not reveal any effect of gender on the depressive feeling of the disabled.