Impact of Income on Perceived Stress, Coping, and Family Functioning in Indian Females with Pseudoseizures

Abstract

Background Pseudoseizures are paroxysmal alterations in behavior that resemble epileptic seizures but are without any organic cause. Stress, coping, and family functioning are contributing factors in the development and maintenance of pseudoseizures. Literature has found patients with pseudoseizures to belong to lower economic strata; however, no study has directly looked at the impact of income on the core contributing and maintaining factors of pseudoseizures. Aim This article studies the impact of income on perceived stress, coping, and family functioning in females with pseudoseizures. Materials and Methods Ninety-one females with pseudoseizures were recruited from the psychiatry department of a tertiary care hospital in New Delhi, India. Each participant completed the Perceived Stress Scale, Ways of Coping Questionnaire, and McMasters Family Assessment Device-General Functioning Scale. Other sociodemographic variables including per capita family monthly income, level of education, area of residence, and employment status were also recorded. Results Planful Problem Solving and Positive Reappraisal were positively associated with per capita income, while escape-avoidance coping was found to be negatively associated with per capita income. Results also showed a statistically significant negative relationship between perceived stress scores, family functioning, and per capita family income, with income having the highest contribution to family functioning in females with dissociative convulsions. Conclusion Income was a significant contributor to perceived stress, coping processes, and family functioning. Therefore, high levels of perceived stress, greater familial dysfunction, and maladaptive coping had negative impacts on the outcome of female patients with pseudoseizures belonging to lower income group.