"Two are better than One" The contribution of Dyadic coping and couples therapy to Personal Recovery

The contemporary concept of personal recovery when dealing with mental illness emphasizes the changes in an individual's attitudes, beliefs, values and abilities. In addition, there is importance in building personal resources and personal meaning to the experience of recovery. This approach is primarily focused on the individual. Importantly, the impact of a marital (or significant other) relationship and its resources has been hardly studied or identified in the literature.

I would like to introduce two key variables: "Dyadic Coping" and "Couple Therapy". 

Both Dyadic Coping and Couple Therapy fall under the purview of "WE-DISEASE". In 2013, Bodenman and coworkers proposed this term for a disease that belongs to both spouses. According to this concept, in addition to identifying personal coping strategies that the individual uses for managing the illness, one should also focus on Dyadic coping  strategies involving the couple.

In my Doctoral dissertation, Dyadic Coping and Couple Therapy have been found positively related to personal recovery from mental illness. Our findings are pioneering in nature, and will be detailed in this talk.

This presentation highlights the centrality of the dyadic process in the journey of personal recovery. Based on my Doctoral Thesis, this talk will spotlight the need for expertise in couple therapy for people with mental illness in a marital (significant other) relationship. This approach encourages them to maintain their relationship and mobilize personal and couple strengths for their personal recovery.