Abstract

THE PREVALENCE OF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION AMONG MOTHERS OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS AND ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER IN MADINA, SAUDI ARABIA

Raghad Abdulelah Alsayed*, Arwa Ahmed Alharbi and Abeer Aiad Allehebi

Abstract

Background: Of child with autism, parents especially mothers pose a substantial role in the care and support and compared with other parents they go throw many considerable challenges to handle with their child illness. Studies on parents of a newly diagnosed autistic child have proved that parents have raised levels of posttraumatic stress disorder and depression.[14,15] Parents mostly liable to anxiety wish can be attributed to demands of dealing with their autistic child.[16,17,18,19,20,21,22] Aims & Objective: To explore the prevalence of anxiety and depression among mothers of children with Autism spectrum disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in Madinah Saudi Arabia. Material and Methods: For mothers’ diagnostic assessment, we used questionnaire based on Taylor scale for anxiety and Beck scale for depression. All mothers of children with Autism spectrum disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in Madinah and were obtaining medical care in Al - Amal Complex for Mental Health were invited to participate in study. Results: The result of this study show that from 50 mother of children with Autism spectrum disorders and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Madinah The prevalence of mothers who have both anxiety and depression was 18 %. The prevalence of mothers with alone depression was 20%. The prevalence of mothers with alone anxiety was 8 %. Conclusion: Autism and ADHD can affect the mother mental health which should be considered when treating the child. We have to check the mother mental health give them proper treatment if needed, and if there is a need for cognitive behavioral therapy.

Keywords: Autism; Attention Deficit Hyperactivity; Saudia Arabia; Depression; Anxiety.