Coping Strategies in Patients Diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine the coping strategies adopted by patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) and their association with various socio-demographic variables. METHODOLOGY: This descriptive cross-sectional study was done on diagnosed patients of major depressive disorder presenting to the out-patient department of Liaquat University Hospital and Sir Cowasjee Jehangir Institute of Psychiatry, Hyderabad during 6 months from November 2019 to April 2020. All the cases aged >18 years, both gender and diagnosed with major depressive disorder were included. Depression coping questionnaire (DCQ) was administered to check for coping strategies employed. All the data was entered and analyzed by using statistical package for social sciences SPSS version 20. RESULTS: A majority of the sample comprised of middle-aged female patients, living in nuclear families in the urban setting with a middle socioeconomic status. The mean time delay in presenting to the OPD was 116±13 day. As per strategies the majority of the cases were taking pharmacological therapy and even fewer were under any other therapy. 92.75% of the patients admitted to employing coping strategies; a majority (78.57%) of whom deemed them useful. CONCLUSION: Coping strategies are adopted by many of the patients the belief of them being useful is prevalent. Different strategies are common among different sociodemographic groups, however, most of the coping strategies employed are negative and lead to negative consequences in the long run. Key words: Depression, coping, adopted, socio-demographic factors