Depression and Marital Disagreement: The Social Construction of Despair

Abstract

How do couples with and without a depressed spouse cope with conflict? Seven couples in which the husband was depressed, seven in which the wife was depressed and fourteen in which neither was depressed completed measures of marital adjustment and typical conflict behaviour. Following a laboratory discussion, they completed measures of their recall of their own and their spouse's participation and the impact of their spouses on them. Reports by depressed persons and their spouses agreed in indicating that they engaged in less constructive problem-solving and more destructive behaviour. After the discussion they were sad and angry and experienced each other as hostile, competitive, mistrusting, detached, less agreeable, less nurturant and less affiliative than couples without a depressed member. This study contradicts clinical folklore depicting depressed persons as lacking in outwardly-directed hostility.