Burnout, Psychosocial Stress and Conversion Symptoms: Comparison between Working Women and Housewives

Abstract

The present study aimed to explore the relationship among burnout, psychosocial stress and conversion disorder among working women and housewives. A cross-sectional survey research design was used to collect the data (N=300) from housewives (n=148) and working women (n=152). The age of the participants ranging from 25 to 58 years. For data collection, purposive sampling was used and self-report measures were administered. The results indicated that higher the burnout greater would be the conversion symptoms both among working women and housewives. Among the psychological variables, only depression predicted significantly but weakly the conversion symptoms. The two groups differ significantly in terms of conversion symptoms with housewives reported higher levels of conversion symptoms. This study has implications for clinical psychologist to consider psychosocial stress (e.g., depression) in the treatment of conversion. It has validated the already established indigenous findings in Pakistan.