A Romantic-Partner Model of Mental Health

Romantic relationships are ubiquitous among adolescents and adults the world over. More than 90% of adults in the United States will marry at some point, and cohabitation is increasingly common among unmarried adults. Intimate relationships are arguably the main way that we fulfill our fundamental need for connection. In the United States and many other countries, for individuals in a committed monogamous romantic relationship, the relationship itself becomes one of the key contexts for mental health. The association between relationship distress and various forms of psychopathology is as strong as many other well-known predictors of mental illness. In this article, I discuss how relationships that become unsatisfying, distressed, or conflicted are a precursor to the experience of mental illness. I also discuss how the romantic relationship may trigger a diathesis for psychopathology. That diathesis may be biological (e.g., genetic) or psychological (e.g., cognitive, emotional).