RISK OF VIOLENCE IN SEVERELY MENTALLY ILL AND THE PSYCHIATRIC MORBIDITY AMONG THEIR CAREGIVERS
Main Article Content
Keywords
Risk, Violence, Severely mentally ill, Morbidity
Abstract
Background: Public health and mental health professionals are very anxious about violence among psychiatric patients. Risk of violence in patients can put caregivers under a lot of psychological stress, which could put them at risk for a variety of psychiatric issues.
Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the Risk of violence in severely mentally ill and the psychiatric morbidity among their caregivers.
Methodology: The current cross -sectional study was carried out in in Ashfaq Neuropsychiatric and General hospital Khwazakhela Swat from July 2022 to march 2023 after taking approval from the ethical committee of the institute. Individuals diagnosed as seriously mentally ill by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 as having either bipolar affective disorder or psychotic illness. Caregivers who had spent at least three months of the previous year with the participant and who were between the ages of 18 to 65 years were included. Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) - Plus was used to evaluate the psychiatric morbidity of caregivers, and ICD-10 diagnostic criteria were used to make the diagnosis. Adults with mental illnesses can use the structured professional judgment tool HCR-20 to determine their risk of violence. Data was analyzed through SPSS version 18. The relationship between the qualitative variables was examined using the chi-square test or Fisher's exact test, and the means of the two groups were compared using the t-test. The significance of comparing differences between two groups was determined using the Mann-Whitney U test. A P value of less than 0.05 was deemed significant. The odds ratio (OR) & corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to measure the strength of the association.
Results; 32.0% of the seriously mentally ill had high Risk of violence. A substantial percentage of psychiatric disorders (44.8%), of which mood disorders accounted for 71.4%, was reported by caregivers. A notable correlation was found between patients' Risk of violence and their caregivers' psychological disorders (p = 0.001).
Conclusion
The current study revealed that 32.0% of people who had serious mental illness had a high Risk of violence. Gender, comorbid substance abuse, drug compliance, legal involvement, & a diagnosis of schizophrenia are all significantly correlated with Risk of violence. The prevalence of psychiatric morbidity is significant among caregivers.
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Abid Usman
Consultant Psychiatrist, MTI DHQ Hospital, Bannu Pakistan
Aqeela Iqbal
Senior Registrar Psychiatry Department, Naseer Teaching Hospital, Peshawar Pakistan
Ashfaq Ahmad
Consultant Psychiatrist, Government THQ Hospital, Khwaza Khela, Swat Pakistan