Disputing the Notion of Psychopathology Among Women Married to Hypersexual Men Using the MMPI-2-RF

This article offers a report disputing the notion that women who are married to hypersexual men exhibit a constellation of patho-logical symptoms, although it is likely they experience marital dis-tress. The authors measured psychopathology using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form and mar-ital satisfaction using the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale. The authors failed to find evidence supporting a common belief that wives of hypersexual men have their own pathology. Wives of hy-persexual men, however, were significantly more distressed about their marriages compared with the controls in this study. Overall, these findings contradict a characterization of wives of hypersexual men as being more depressed, anxious, chemically dependent, or otherwise dysfunctional. Women who are married to hypersexual men are often distressed about the discovery or disclosure of their husband’s sexual behavior (Reid & Wool-ley, 2006). Beyond this, however, some reports note that wives of hypersex-ual men may be distressed because of their own preexisting psychopathology (e.g., Schneider, Corley, & Irons, 1998). These findings raise questions about the primary source for distress among this population of women. The presen