Dissatisfaction and problems in marital life of spouses of patients with bipolar disorder: A cross-sectional study from a tertiary care hospital

Introduction: The objective was to understand the marital dissatisfaction/satisfaction and problems in different areas of marital life in spouses of patients with bipolar disorder (BD). Materials and Methods: In this cross sectional descriptive study on BD patients and their spouses, a semi structured questionnaire was used to collect sociodemographic details. Couple satisfaction index (CSI) was used to identify marital satisfaction or dissatisfaction, whereas problem areas questionnaire (PAQ) was used to identify areas in which spouses of BD patients were often dissatisfied or have disagreements about their partner's behavior. Results: A total of 170 BD patients, along with their spouses, were included in our study. Marital dissatisfaction was present in 104 (61.2%) and there was no significant relation with sociodemographic variables except for the number of children (P = 0.002). Mean scores on CSI and PAQ were 42.75 ± 17.32 and 28.91 ± 11.28, respectively, with a significant negative correlation between these (r =-0.712; P = 0.0001). Handling family finances; rearing children or parenting, career/job related decisions, demonstrations of affection, handling household tasks, spending recreation leisure time together, moodiness/temper/emotionality, and problems in sex relations were important areas in which partners of BD patients were facing a significant problem. Conclusions: Marital dissatisfaction was very common in spouses of BD patients and they faced a lot of problems in various areas of their lives. As clinicians, we need to evaluate and understand the issues related to the marital life of normal spouses of BD patients to provide emotional and practical support to them, individually as well as couples.