Features of Families with Major Affective Disorders |
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| Authors: | HELM STIERLIN MD PHD GUNTHARD WEBER MD GUNTHER SCHMIDT MD FRITZ B SIMON MD |
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| Institution: | Professor and Chief, Department of Psychoanalytic Basic Research and Family Therapy, University of Heidelberg, Mönchhofstrasse 15a, 6900 Heidelberg, West Germany.;Psychiatrist and Family Therapist, Institute for Systemic Therapy, Schlosshof 3, 6908 Wiesloch, West Germany.;Psychiatrist, Department of Psychoanalytic Basic Research and Family Therapy, University of Heidelberg, Mönchhofstrasse, 15a, 6900 Heidelberg, West Germany. |
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| Abstract: | This article reports the authors' observations on 22 families in which a young adult member has been diagnosed as manic-depressive, and on 11 families in which a member has been diagnosed as suffering from major schizoaffective disorder. All families could be described as extremely rigid and bound-up systems. Many of them were characterized by a "restrictive parental complementarity" and reciprocal delegation, and they shared certain cognitive features and assumptions. "Manic-depressive" families showed similarities as well as differences when compared with families in which there were schizophrenic and serious psychosomatic disorders. |
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