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Are there relational disorders? A harmful dysfunction perspective: comment on the special section.

Jerome C Wakefield1

  • 1School of Social Work, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA. jw111@nyu.edu

Journal of Family Psychology : JFP : Journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43)
|August 30, 2006
PubMed
Summary

Relational disorders can be genuine medical conditions, even when individuals are healthy. This occurs when interactional functions fail due to normal variations, creating harmful relational dysfunctions.

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Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Psychiatry
  • Family Studies

Background:

  • The concept of disorder is often defined by individual dysfunction.
  • Relational dynamics are crucial in family and psychological health.
  • Existing diagnostic systems may overlook disorders inherent to relationships.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine if relational disorders can exist independently of individual pathology.
  • To apply the harmful dysfunction analysis to relational contexts.
  • To argue for the recognition of genuine relational disorders.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized the harmful dysfunction analysis framework.
  • Analyzed the concept of disorder in the context of interpersonal interactions.
  • Critically reviewed the classification of relational issues within existing diagnostic manuals.

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Main Results:

  • Relational disorders can be genuine medical disorders.
  • Harmful failures of evolutionarily selected relational functions can occur.
  • These dysfunctions arise from mismatches between normal variations in individuals.
  • Current diagnostic manuals may misclassify certain relational disorders.

Conclusions:

  • Relational disorders are valid and distinct from individual disorders.
  • The harmful dysfunction analysis supports the existence of relational disorders.
  • Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) classification needs revision for relational disorders.