Background: Alcoholism is the major drug abuse in India that affects spouses of the men with Alcohol dependence disorders had a higher rate of sexual problems, mental health problems and also physical health problems. These women also had suicidal thoughts, attempted suicide, minority and had short marriage life. Hence, a study with 200 female spouses of alcoholic husbands attending Rajah Muthiah Medical College and Hospital were assessed.

Results: Among the female spouses 25% participants had moderate depression and 24% had severe depression. Among the participants with no, mild, moderate and severe depression, 3.4%, 23.3%, 36% and 70.8% had suicidal ideation. Presence of depression was found to be associated with that of suicidal ideation with p value less than 0.05.

Conclusion: In this study, the prevalence of depression among Spouses of Alcohol patients was high. This may have its own impact on the treatment outcome and prognosis of patients with mental illness and might even lead to suicide of the spouse. Depression among female spouses was associated with low perceived social support and the patient’s psychiatric symptoms.

Keywords: Suicidal ideation, abuse, mental illness.

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Dr Aravindh. M

Postgraduate, Department of Psychiatry, Rajah Muthiah Medical College and Hospital, Annamalai University, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu