Page No 60-68
Meena Hijam
Mizoram University, Aizawl, Mizoram
Thiyam Kiran Singh Nagaland University, Kohima Campus, Marima
According to WHO, common mental disorders such as depression and anxiety are
more prevalent among women when compared to men. Among many factors, husband’s
use of alcohol and other drugs have found to be an important determinant of why
women are more prone to mental illness. Manipur has a high prevalence of drug and
alcohol abuse and hence the study will highlight the need to understand the unique
mental health issues of women; which will ultimately help in developing appropriate
intervention strategy. To study the symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress among
spouses of alcohol and opioid dependents and a control group comprising of women
whose husbands are not dependent on drugs and alcohol. Further, the determinants of
depression, anxiety and stress will also be explored. The present study is a crosssectional
study design. DASS-21 was used to collect the data from RIMS and Drugdeaddiction
centers under Social Welfare Department, Manipur. A total of 203 women
participated in the study. Descriptive statistics, t- test, chi-square and logistic regression
analysis was carried out in SPSS software version 25. Results showed that women
with alcohol and opioid dependent husbands have significantly higher symptoms of
depression, anxiety and stress. Factors such as husband’s dependence, educational
as well as working status and experience of physical and/or psychological abuse were
found to be significantly associated with the symptoms of common mental disorders
among women. Husband’s dependence to alcohol and opioid is a risk factor for
developing mental health disorders among spouses. Hence, the study highlights the
importance of developing women- centric intervention module for spouses to help them
cope better.