Determinants of psychological distress in relatives of people with chronic schizophrenia.

Research shows that the relatives of people with chronic schizophrenia suffer psychological distress and interference in daily life from the burdens of caregiving. In this study, members of a self-help group for the relatives of schizophrenia sufferers provided information through a mail survey, using standardized measures of psychological distress and burden, and severity of the sufferer's illness. Caregiver psychological distress was high compared with test norms, and the level of behavioral disturbance in the sufferer was found to contribute to caregiver distress after controlling for the caregiver's age, sex, and social supports. An unexpected finding was that those caring for female sufferers reported greater distress than those caring for males.