Interrelating within the families of young psychotherapy outpatients

Abstract

Interrelating is a combination of relating to and being related to by another. The Couple's Relating to Each Other Questionnaires (CREOQ) and the Family Members Interrelating Questionnaires (FMIQ) measure negative forms of both self and other relating, across a close/distant and an upper/lower axis. These were used to measure the interrelating between the parents of young adults, and between young adults and their parents, in a sample of young, Greek, psychotherapy outpatients and a comparable sample of non- patients. In a proportion of both samples, the interrelating of the young adults was compared with that of a well sibling. The patients' parents were significantly more distant towards each other than those of the non-patients. The interrelating between the patients and their parents was markedly worse than that between the non-patients and their parents. It was also markedly worse between the patients and their parents than between the siblings and their parents.