The Weeping Wife: Marital Relations of Depressed Women

Marital functioning was examined in acutely depressed women and compared with a matched normal control group, using a semi-structured interview method. The depressed women as compared with normals were significantly more reticent and submissive, had an impaired sexual relationship, felt less affection and more guilt and resentment towards their spouse, and had considerably more interpersonal friction. Those depressed women with adaptive premorbid marital adjustments were less reticent and submissive, had less marital friction, and tried to protect their spouse from the consequences of the illness. Those patients with maladaptive premorbid marital adjustment tended to blame the spouse for causing the illness. While the involvement of the spouse in the treatment of his depressed wife seems essential, the degree and direction of the involvement would depend on the premorbid marital adjustment.