Socio-Demographic Profile and Family Burden of Divorced, Deserted or Separated Female with Mental Illness

A large number of female patients who are married are recovered to have psychiatric illness only after the marriage. The arm of this study was to delineate the clinical and socio demography profile of the patient who have been deserted, divorced or separated judicially or my mutual consent.The socio-demographic profile, the age of on set of illness, the clinical profile, the duration, episodes of illness and the stated reason of desertion was noted. The burden of care scale was administered to the most significant caregiver as identified by consensus of the family. Most of the deserted females were schizophrenic, although manic episodes occurring after the marriage was also the cause. Mental retardation and severe OCD were also among the clinical profile. The caregiver had immense burden of care and their concern in respect of the life and future will be discussed later. Concealment of mental illness before marriage was the major cause of divorce or separation that has caused great burden on the care givers.