A study on defense style and quality of family life in patients with depression

Objective:To explore the clinical characters of psychological defense style and the changes of family life quality in depressive patients.Method:75 depressive patients were tested with defense style questionnaire(DSQ).The results were compared with that in 80 normal controls.92 family members of depressive patients and 80 control subjects were measured with generic quality of life inventory(GQOLI).Results:There were immature and intermediate defense scores of(4.76±0.41)and(4.41±0.60)in the depressed group significantly higher than those of(4.31±0.31)and of(3.92±0.81)in the normal group(all P0.01),and mature defense scores of(4.62±0.54)in the depressive group significantly lower than those of(5.20±0.47)in the control group(P0.01 or P0.05).The total,somatic,psychological and social score of GQOLI were lower in the depressive families than in the normal families.Conclusion:Depressive patients use more immature and intermediate psychological defense style and have poor quality of family life.