Study of mental exhaustion experienced by family caregivers of patients with mental disorders, Zahedan Psychiatric Hospital, 2000

Objective: The family caregivers of patients with mental disorders are in fact the backbone of clinical and health care system. They are considered as a patient because of their responsibility for caring mental patients that may make them suffer from mental exhaustion. This investigation was done to determine the rate of mental exhaustion of these persons referred to Zahedan psychiatric center in 2000. Methods: This descriptive and analytical study was done on 125 family caregivers. At first mental patients’ personal characteristics and their psychiatric diagnosis were surveyed by using their files and then information related to caregivers’ personal characteristics and their mental exhaustion were gathered by questionnaires. Data was presented by descriptive and analytical indices. Findings: From all caregivers 26.4%, 60.8% and 12.8% suffered from mild, moderate and severe exhaustion respectively. According to the report, the exhaustion developed after taking care of patients with schizophrenia and psychotic disorders was more prevalent than mood disorders. In this study, 73.6% of family caregivers suffered from moderate and severe exhaustion. Conclusion: Long term care of patients with mental disorders cause caregivers to experience a sense of burden that can endanger their mental health and deteriorate the quality of care. It is recommended that intervention be imposed to reduce such burdens