Changes in partner relationships due to in-patient psychotherapeutic treatment

Claas Drefahl, Holger Kirsch, Jochen Jordan, A. Westphal

Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psycho-therapy, Frankfurt / Main (Germany)

- Does sociality change during the course of the treatment?
- Can subpopulations be identified by differences in sociality?

In this ongoing study, using a prospective design, a convenience sample of 20 couples is ex-amined, of which one of the partners is undergoing an in-patient psychotherapeutic treatment for twelve weeks. Independent of measurements of patients and partners are scheduled at the beginning, the completion and six months after completion of the treatment.

The instrument used is a Grid consisting of 15 elements and 14 constructions. After comple-tion of this individual Grid, patients and partners are examined with the Empathy Grid, by exchanging their individual Grids between them and instructing them to rate their partner’s constructions.

The theoretical background of this work is Kelly’s sociality corollary, which postulates that the extent to which a person as capable of construing the others constructions, reflects the significance of this person for his/her life. In Kelly’s view (1955) the requirement of a partner relationships is the capability of „construing the other’s constructions“.

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