Psychopathology in nullity of marriage cases: contributes of the relational-symbolic model

On any human reality, people experience differently the same event, which originates different narratives to describe them. The existence of a psychopathology on an individual reinforces these differences, since it is often the condition that takes the individual to a maladjusted interpretation of the reality. A couple’s relationship is no different in that regard. A nullity of marriage case, because it includes several unknown individual decision making elements and maturational elements (except to oneself), doesn’t allow, in most cases, direct, factual or conclusive evidence of its nullity, especially in cases where some form of psychopathology is pointed out. Although Psychopathology and Psychiatry offer a vast array of tools in order to detect these pathologies, we find situations where the nonexistent pathology could indicate a valid marriage, but the way the relationship was built and evolved before marriage, as well as the development of each spouse, may indicate other elements that may limit one’s ability to decide. Therefore, we may have situations where traditional Psychopathology or Psychiatry may be insufficient for some nullity of marriage requests. The Relational-Symbolic Model has on its core the study of family development including the families of origin, through the study of familial transmission of values and ways of life, the conscious/unconscious assumption of the transmitted family models and the way the new couple combines their families influences that each has received. This knowledge may help to determine individual inadequacies which may be deterrent to the matrimonial vows, even if an individual psychopathology doesn’t exist. The study of these cases may also shed some light on relationship consistency elements. With this study, we intend to analyze cases that have been evaluated using the Relational-Symbolic Model in order to discuss its possible contributions to this kind of evaluation. We also intend to understand if there are common elements of marriage consistency and inconsistency in those cases. As for methodology, we will use multiple case study, because it allows to find and analyze both similarities and differences between the cases and, therefore, to contribute for a deep analysis of the subject.