STUDY OF EXPRESSED EMOTIONS AND CAREGIVER BURDEN IN BIPOLAR MANIA

The term expressed emotion (EE) comprises of 3 specific factors: criticism, hostility and emotional over-involvement. Caregiver burden refers to the emotional, social and financial stresses that caring for a relative with mental illness imposes on the caregiver.Boththe factors are inter-related and associated with frequent relapses in Bipolar mania patients. The present study was aimed to study EE and Burden of care in caregivers of Bipolar Mania Patients , their relationship and association with Illness correlates. It included 30 Patients of Bipolar Mania.EEhad significant positive correlation with the total burden of care in the caregiver(p 0.043) The number of past episodes of mania had a significant positive correlation with the total score of EE (p 0.002), and with the total burden of care (p 0.001).