London, March 31 (IANS) Depression isolates partners from each other by chipping away at the ability to perceive the others’ thoughts and feelings.
Depression impairs what psychologists call ’empathic accuracy’ – and that can exacerbate alienation, depression and the cycle by which they feed each other, reports Psychological Science.
Accordingly, Reuma Gadassi and Nilly Mor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Eshkol Rafaeli at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, sought to grasp these dynamics, particularly the role of gender in relationships, according to a Hebrew University statement.
The study revealed a surprising dynamic. ‘It’s called the partner effect,’ said Gadassi, psychology graduate student. She explained: ‘Women’s depression affects their own accuracy. But it also affected their partner’s accuracy’ – in both cases, negatively.
Fifty heterosexual couples – some married, some cohabiting, and together for an average of about five years – participated in the study. A questionnaire assessed their levels of depression.
Then their interpersonal perceptions were tested both in the lab and in daily life. In the lab, the couples were videotaped during a 12-minute conversation in which one sought help from the other.
In the second portion, participants made once-a-day diary entries for 21 days, rating a list of negative and positive moods and feelings about the relationship, both their own and their partner’s, on a five-point scale.
From both tests, the researchers found that the more depressed the woman was, the less accurately she inferred her partner’s feelings.
