Symmetry and complementarity in the alcoholic marriage: a pilot study.
Eight couples, in which one of the partners is alcoholic, have been studied with the aim of verifying Bateson's hypothesis according to which the relationship between the alcoholic--when sober--and the other is clearly symmetrical. To this purpose a new method developed by the author and based on the Rorschach Test has been utilized. Although the small number of subjects in this pilot study precludes any detailed statistical analysis, some preliminary findings appear to be particularly interesting: (a) clear prevalence of symmetrical exchanges on complementary ones, which seems to confirm Bateson's hypothesis; (b) greater number of 'up' positions of the non-alcoholic partner who seems the one who 'controls' the relationship. In this perspective the symptom can be explained as an attempt to gain control of what is to happen in the relationship with the partner.
D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012392:Rorschach Test