Couples and health

This chapter describes how the couple relationship can influence the course of common major health problems like heart disease and cancer and provides some guidelines for couple-based assessment and intervention. It presents a model for thinking about the reciprocal relationships between health problems, patient well-being, partner well-being, and the couple relationship. There are three broad approaches to the focus of a couple interventions for health: partner-assisted, disorder-specific, or a general couple therapy. The clinician needs to understand the couple's history, the couple's strengths and resources, and the couple's unique challenges. Dyadic processes like communication training are often a part of the treatment. Couple therapy can play an important role in helping partners to support each other and cope effectively to the stresses of serious health problems. When a couple jointly support and manage the challenges of health adversity, that often brings a sense of renewed closeness and enriched meaning to the couple's shared lives