Liebe M. E. P. P. Poli^a, Sri Redatin Retno Pudjiati^b*, Efriyani Djuwita^c

^aMaster’s of Sains Program, Department of Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Indonesia, Depok, Indonesia; poliliebe@gmail.com  

^bDepartment of Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Indonesia, Depok, Indonesia; retno-pj@ui.ac.id

^cDepartment of Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Indonesia, Depok, Indonesia; efriyani@ui.ac.id

Address correspondence to Sri Redatin Retno Pudjiati. Jalan Lingkar Kampus Raya, Pondok Cina, Beji, Depok, Jawa Barat, 16424, Indonesia (e-mail: retno-pj@ui.ac.id )

“IT’S LIKE THERE’S A STRANGER IN MY HOUSE NOW”: PSYCHOLOGICAL AMBIGUOUS LOSS EXPERIENCED BY SPOUSAL CAREGIVERS LIVING WITH ANXIETY DISORDERS SUFFERERS.

Background: Ambiguous loss, either physical or psychological, is a common phenomenon, which also affects different populations, including the spousal caregivers of people who suffer from chronic mental disorders. Anxiety disorders are one of the chronic and common mental disorders with significant impact on the sufferers as well as their caregivers, including their spousal caregivers. To date, some studies have been done focusing on spousal caregivers of anxiety disorders sufferers, but only few studies were focused on psychological ambiguous loss experienced by spousal caregivers of anxiety disorders sufferers. Existing studies which have been done so far are focused on psychological ambiguous loss experienced by spousal caregivers of PTSD and OCD sufferers. Therefore, few has been known about the existence of psychological ambiguous loss among spousal caregivers of anxiety disorders sufferers in general. Thus, this study seeks to identify the existence of pasychological ambiguous loss among spousal caregivers of anxiety disorders sufferes, and how they experience it.

Objective: This study intends to identify the existence of psychological ambiguous loss among spousal caregivers of people who suffer from anxiety disorders in Jakarta and surroundings, and to better understand their experiences living with anxiety disorders sufferers.

Methods: The current study took an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach to investigate the lived experience of five spousal caregivers (four males and one female) of anxiety disorders sufferers in Jakarta and surroundings, from the age range of 30 to 52 years. Data were gathered from semi-structured interviews conducted with spousal caregivers regarding their experience living and being married with anxiety disorders sufferers. The interview transcripts were coded using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis procedures, and the analysis process was proceeded as follows: reading and rereading the transcripts numerous times, initial noting, identifying emergent themes, searching for connections across emergent themes, clustering the themes, producing a summary table per case, integrating the five cases, producing a summary table for all cases, looking for patterns and identifying convergencies as well as devergencies across cases, and developing a full narrative based on those patterns.

Results: Eight overarching themes for the participants’ experiences of living with anxiety disorders sufferers, emerged: lack of understanding of anxiety disorders-related mental and behavioral changes, negative views towards their partners; experiences of loss; distress; acceptance; little support from others; God’s sovereignty; and hope.

Conclusions: Psychological ambiguous loss is experienced by spousal caregivers living with anxiety disorders sufferers. Distressed by it and receiving little support, their acceptance and support towards their partners can be seen, including their religious coping and hope of their partners’ recovery.

Added Values: This study identifies the existence of psychological ambiguous loss amongst spousal caregivers of anxiety disorders sufferers in Indonesia, particularly in Jakarta and surroundings. In detail, the findings of this study identify both the generalities and particularities experienced by the spousal caregivers of anxiety disorders sufferers, such as: God’s sovereignty, acceptance or ‘nrimo’, misinterpretation and underestimation of anxiety disorders-related symptoms. Besides that, this study fills-in the existing research gap focusing on psychological ambiguous loss experienced by this particular population, as well as enriching the existing research literatures focusing on the spousal caregivers of anxiety disorders sufferers. In addition, this study contributes to the society by raising awareness about this phenomenon experienced by spousal caregivers of anxiety disorders sufferers, and highlight the need for psychoeducation and support to people with anxiety disorders as well as their spousal caregivers, so that better suppport and intervention can be provided/delivered to them.

Keywords: loss; psychological ambiguous loss; anxiety disorders; spousal caregivers; anxiety disorders sufferers; support