Ninety married couples in the general population received a structured interview to assess their level of intimacy. The couples also completed self-report questionnaires to assess non-psychotic emotional illness and marital adjustment.
High levels of intimacy were associated with marital adjustment. Low ratings of marital intimacy were significantly associated with non-psychotic emotional illness and psychiatric help-seeking. These findings are discussed in relationship to recent studies which explore the role of lack of marital intimacy as a vulnerability fact or in the development of non-psychotic emotional illness. Implications for treatment of non-psychotic emotional illness in married individuals is briefly discussed.
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