Abstract

Recent researches show increasing correlation between marital conflicts and depression. This study aims to determine the role of marital conflict as a major factor causing depression in Korean married women using object relations theory. Object relations theory focuses on the importance of the initial mother-child relationship, which maintains a long-lasting effect on formation of the individual's personality and future relationships. According to Freud, depression is the withdrawal of libido from the lost object back into the ego. Winnicott explains the necessary psychosomatic relationship in childhood as a crucial part in early development of the ego. Dicks further developed the object-relations theory and applied it to couple and family therapy, claiming that the early object relationships unconsciously affect selection of the spouse and the relationship between married partners later on. This article attempts to explain that psychological conflicts between married partners and the depressive symptoms resulting from such conflicts are strongly related to inner psychic conflicts that can be attributed to early object relationships. Characteristic differences resulting from the cultural dimension will be taken into account. In Korea, the symptom has recently been named "Housewife Depression," but its presence is deeply marked in the traditional culture as "Hwabyung." The current study looks at this seemingly culture-specific phenomena using more analytic tools such as the object relation theory and the Scharff & Scharff marital conflict model built upon Fairbairn's ego concept, and provides detailed analysis regarding the meaning of such conflicts and symptoms in Korean family structure. (Korean J Str Res 2009;17:185∼198)

• Keywords: Marital conflict, Depression, Object relation theory, Separation-Individuation;