RESEARCH PROJECT

This project supports increased recognition by health-care providers of the importance of human relationships to mental and physical health. Recent research suggests that marital/couple relationships are less satisfying, family interactions are less regular and less supportive, and many people are less involved in their communities than was the case in previous decades. Recent clinical studies also have documented the essential role of relationships in specific mental disorders. These scientific advances highlight the relational context of human suffering and the importance of clinicians’ taking relational factors into consideration when diagnosing and treating mental illness.

To date, the project has included:

• An initial meeting in collaboration with the National Institutes of Mental Health in March 2005 that helped to establish a cross-disciplinary network of researchers and clinicians interested in this topic
• A book resulting from this meeting, Relational Processes and DSM-V: Neuroscience, Assessment, Prevention, and Treatment, published by the American Psychiatric Association. A review of this book in the American Journal of Psychiatry concluded that the authors “used rigorous biopsychosocial paradigms that have conclusively demonstrated the relevance and utility of relational processes for clinicians.”
• Secondary analyses of large data sets
• Publication of eight papers in scientific journals in psychiatry and psychology, creating continuing impact on scientific discussions about the role of human relationships, and particularly family relationships, in mental health
• Subsequent conferences and meetings to discuss research priorities and to highlight preliminary evidence about the basic structure of relational processes in mental health.