Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T21:28:35.550Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Mental Illness in Married Pairs in a Total Population

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Olle Hagnell
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, University of Lund, St. Lars Sjukhus 220 06 Lund, Sweden
Norman Kreitman
Affiliation:
M.R.C. Unit for Epidemiological Studies in Psychiatry, University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh, EH10 5HF
J. Duffy
Affiliation:
M.R.C. Unit for Epidemiological Studies in Psychiatry, University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh, EH10 5HF

Extract

Several surveys of mental illness in husband-wife pairs have all concluded that sick couples occur in the general population with a frequency significantly in excess of the number to be expected by chance (Penrose, 1944; Gregory, 1959; Kreitman, 1962; Ryle and Hamilton, 1962; Pond et al., 1963; Nielsen, 1964). The statistical methods employed in such investigations have been criticized by Hall et al. (1971), but these authors' arguments appear to suggest that the relative excess of conjoint illness has, if anything, been under-estimated.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1974 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Buck, C. & Ladd, K. (1965) Psychoneurosis in married partners. Brit. J. Psychiat., 111, 587—90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Essen-Möller, E. (1956) Individual traits and morbidity in a Swedish rural population. Acta psychiat. et neurolog. Scand. Suppl. 100.Google Scholar
Gregory, I. (1959) Husbands and wives admitted to mental hospital. J. ment. Sci., 105, 457—62.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hagnell, O. (1966) A Prospective Study of the Incidence of Mental Disorder. Scandinavian University Books. Lund. Google Scholar
Hagnell, O. & Tunvig, K. (1972) Prevalence and nature of alcoholism in a total population. Soc. Psychiat., 7, 190201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, D. J., Baldwin, I. A. & Robertson, N. C. (1971) Mental illness in married pairs: problems in estimating incidence. In Aspects of the Epidemiology of Mental Illness. Boston.Google Scholar
Hare, E. & Shaw, G. (1965a) The patient's spouse and concordance on neuroticism. Brit. J. Psychiat., 111, 102—3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hare, E. & Shaw, G. (1965b) A study of family health (2): a comparison of the health of father, mother and children. Brit. J. Psychiat., 111, 467—71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kreitman, N. (1962) Mental disorder in married couples. J. ment. Sci., 108, 438—46.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kreitman, N. (1964) The patient's spouse. Brit. J. Psychiat., 110, 159—73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kreitman, N. (1968) Married couples admitted to mental hospital. Brit. J. Psychiat., 114, 679718.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kreitman, N., Collins, J., Nelson, B. & Troop, J. (1970) Neurosis and marital interaction: Part I: Personality and symptoms. Brit. J. Psychiat., 117, 3346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nielsen, J. (1964) Mental disorder in married couples. Brit. J. Psychiat., 110, 683—97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ovenstone, I. M. K. (1973) The development of neurosis in the wives of neurotic men. Part II: Marital role functions and marital tension. Brit. J. Psychiat., 122, 711—7.Google Scholar
Penrose, L. (1944) Mental illness in husband and wife. Psychiat. Quart. Suppl. 18, 161.Google Scholar
Pond, D., Ryle, A. & Hamilton, M. (1963) Marriage and neurosis in a working class population. Brit. J. Psychiat., 109, 592.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rae, J. B. & Drewry, J. (1972) Interpersonal patterns in alcoholic marriages. Brit. J. Psychiat., 120, 615—21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ryle, A. & Hamilton, M. (1962) Neurosis in 50 married couples. J. ment. Sci., 108, 265—73.Google Scholar
Sjöbring, H. (1973) Personality structure and development. Acta psychiat. Scand. Suppl. 244. Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.