The doctor's troubled marriage.

BACKGROUND

Reports about the health of doctors have included claims of an increased risk of unhappy marital and family relationships. Recent studies cast doubt on these pessimistic conclusions but certain patterns of troubled marriages seem to exist as do certain stressors, to which doctors may be particularly susceptible.

OBJECTIVE

To describe the individual and interpersonal dynamics of problematic marriages commonly encountered among medical practitioners and to review some common stressors in medical marriages in general.

DISCUSSION

Three commonly encountered patterns of troubled marriages are described and the ways they develop in the context of medical training and practice. The large increase in the number of women doctors in the past 20 years has brought new challenges to women and men seeking to balance their family and professional commitments.