COVERT AND OVERT DEPENDENCE IN SUICIDAL WOMEN AND THEIR MALE PARTNERS

Dependence has traditionally been associated with suicidal behavior, e specially in women. According to recent psychodynamic formulations, ov ert expression of dependence is influenced by covert mental representa tions and context-interactional variables. This study explored the cov ert mental representations and the interactional context of dependence in suicidal women and their male nonsuicidal partners. On the basis o f theory, we hypothesized that suicidal women and their partners would have similar covert dependent needs, but opposite styles of dealing w ith these needs. The suicidal women would express these needs directly through overt dependent behavior while their partners would manifest their dependent needs indirectly through reinforcing dependent behavio r in suicidal women. As predicted by theory, suicidal women and their partners were found to be similar in terms of covert dependence and di fferent with regard to overt behavior-male partners tending to foster dependence in suicidal women. Contrary to prediction, most suicidal wo men did not directly express excessive dependence.