Ambivalence and guilt feelings: Two relevant variables for understanding caregivers' depressive symptomatology.

Ambivalence and guilt feelings: Two relevant variables for understanding caregivers' depressive symptomatology. Clin Psychol Psychother. 2017 Aug 14;: Authors: Losada A, Márquez-González M, Vara-García C, Gallego-Alberto L, Romero-Moreno R, Pillemer K Abstract Providing care for a relative with dementia is considered to be a chronic stressor that has been linked to negative mental health consequences for caregivers. A theoretical model was developed and tested to assess the degree to which ambivalence and guilt feelings contribute to caregivers' depressive symptomatology. Participants included 212 dementia family caregivers. In addition to ambivalence and guilt feelings, sociodemographic characteristics, behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia, and depressive symptomatology were assessed. Hypotheses derived from the stress and coping model were tested using path analysis. The analysed model showed an excellent fit to the data. In total, 35% of the variance in depressive symptomatology was explained by the assessed variables. Although significant correlations were obtained between frequency and appraisal of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia and depression, the obtained model suggests that this effect was mediated through ambivalence. In addition, ambivalence had an indirect effect on depression. The association of ambivalence with depression was explained through feelings of guilt; that is, respondents w...
Source: Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy - Category: Psychiatry Tags: Clin Psychol Psychother Source Type: research