Neurosis and Marital Interaction. IV. Manifest Psychological Interaction

Abstract

One of the many possible ways of obtaining information about the marital relationship is by observing the marital partners together, a procedure being increasingly used in clinical practice. Little is established, however, for either clinical or research purposes, about how such observations may be ordered, with what reliability they can be made, or how they relate to other aspects of marital function and to the psychological health of the partners. This paper is concerned with just such issues.

The development of a measure of intimate bonds

“…Kreitman et al (1971) rated marital interaction in terms of 'assertiveness' and 'affection' and considered these to be independent constructs. Ryle (1966) developed a Marital Patterns Test (MPT) to quantify spouses' experience of affection given and received, and of domination/submission.…”

“…A further impetus to the development of measures of marital function was provided by British studies examining the relationship between poor marital quality and neuroticism (Pond et al 1963), and the interaction of spouses with each other where the husband was a designated patient with a neurotic disorder (Kreitman, 1964). Kreitman et al (1971) rated marital interaction in terms of 'assertiveness' and 'affection' and considered these to be independent constructs. Ryle (1966) developed a Marital Patterns Test (MPT) to quantify spouses' experience of affection given and received, and of domination/submission.…”

Some Prospects for Couples Therapy

“…Hospital rates are highest among divorced, separated and widowed individuals Some Prospects for Couples Therapy 145 (Segraves, 1980). Numerous studies have investigated the relationship between psychiatric disturbance and marital relationships (Birchnell & Kennard, 1983;Bullock, 1972;Collins et al, 1971;Hinchliffe et al, 1978;Kreitman et al, 1971;Pattern & Waring, 1984;Weissman & Paykel, 1974). Pattern & Waring (1984) investigated the quality and quantity of marital intimacy in the marriages of psychiatric patients.…”

Medical Research Council Unit for Epidemiological Studies in Psychiatry

“…These scales discriminated between patients and controls, while their respective wives had similar mean scores but a significantly greater variance in the patient-spouse group. The classification of marriages based on role analysis criteria was compared in detail with that produced by behavioural ratings and the two systems were shown to be congruent in many respects (Collins, Kreitman, Nelson, and Troop, 1971;Kreitman, Collins, Nelson, and Troop, 1971).…”