Dysfunctional Relationships Essay

The sanction of marriage in our society is something that is still strived for and valued. Most people still crave the idea of intimacy with commitment, finding a soul mate is highly romanticized in media and our society. According to Berkman and Glass (2000), people who lacked close ties with others were two to three times as likely to die over a 9 year span and individuals who were married in the USA were less likely to die from any of the top ten cancers than unmarried people. These studies show us that not only is it in our nature to seek out intimate relationships with others but there are many benefits that we receive in return. Yet with all of these benefits and people who are still attempting to seek out healthy marriages we still

Most of these beliefs relate to communication and how important speaking and understanding your partner is. This is a point that both Peggy and Joseph kept reiterating especially in maintaining a long term relationship. The relationship continuously changes and every once in awhile you find yourself recommitting to this new found relationship . Eidelson and Epstein (1982), state that dysfunction occurs when partners don 't see it this way and start to believe that their partner cannot change especially when it comes to faults and bettering themselves. Dysfunction also occurs when partners start to believe that the majority of the relationship feels just like the honeymoon phase and that great relationships just happen and that no work is involved. This is an aspect that Joseph stated multiple times that he felt attributed to their long relationship. Peggy comes from a two parent household where Joseph grew up in a single parent home and didn 't get a chance to witness a healthy marriage play out. Realizing that this is something he wanted and he was at a disadvantage he made sure that this was something he worked at constantly by reading books and attending lectures on relationships. Eidelson and Epstein (1982), would say that this would be an attribute that would prevent dysfunction in the relationship removing a great risk if distress and dissatisfaction from the