Suicidal Persons and Their Partners: Individual and Interpersonal Dynamics

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Abstract
The individual and interpersonal dynamics of 21 suicidal persons (15 females and 6 males) and their partners were investigated. Each couple was interviewed at the time of the suicidal person's psychiatric hospitalization following a recent episode of suicidal behavior or serious suicidal ideation. Each partner was administered two tests of individual functioning and one test of interpersonal functioning. The results revealed that the dynamics of these couples were characterized by complementarity at the level of overt individual functioning, and similarity at the level of covert individual functioning. Both partners in a couple tended to describe the suicidal partner as psychologically disabled and the nonsuicidal partner as well‐functioning. However, the suicidal patients and their partners were similar in terms of covert individual functioning both showing a tendency toward anaclitic, dependent object relations. The communication between the partners was found to be disturbed in a large majority of the couples. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of an integrative model of individual and interpersonal dynamics.

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