Family functioning and 1-year prognosis of first-episode major depressive disorder

This study aims at investigating the characteristics of family functioning in Chinese first-episode major depressive disorder (FE-MDD) patients and its relationship with major depressive episode (MDE) duration. We recruited 63 FE-MDD families and 59 healthy comparison (HC) families from WuHan Mental Health Center and its nearby communities from September 2014 to August 2016. Family functioning was assessed by the Chinese version of Family Assessment Device (FAD). After baseline assessment, MDD patients were followed-up monthly for one year. Independent t test and Pearson correlation analysis were respectively used to compare the family functioning of MDD and HC families and to assess the relationship between family functioning and MDE duration. Our results showed that MDD families exhibited family impairment in all the 7 sub-scales of FAD. MDD patients with "healthy family functioning" showed significantly shorter MDE duration than those with "unhealthy family functioning". MDE duration was positively correlated with the score of problem solving (PS), communication (CM) and general functioning (GF) subscales. These findings indicate that Chinese MDD families are associated with a wide range of family impairments and family functioning is linked to the MDE duration. Improvement of family functioning may be helpful for the recovery of MDD.