Research Reveals Mental Disorders Can Be Transmitted To Couples

Illustration of the pair (Pexels/Katerina Holmes)

JAKARTA - Recent research reveals that mental disorders can be transmitted between partners. The study analyzed 6 million couples in Taiwan, Denmark, and Sweden.

Researchers found that a person is more likely to experience the same mental disorders as a partner. The mental disorders in question includetegers, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, autism, anxiety, bipolar, OCD, to anorexia nervosa.

"We found that most mental disorders have transnational and trans-generationally consistent couplecarrying, which demonstrates the importance of this in the dynamics of the population of mental disorders," the researchers wrote in the study results, quoted from Science Alert, on Monday, September 15, 2025.

Researchers refer to this as a phenomenon of sexual correlation or pair correlation. This phenomenon was previously found to be the highest correlation in religion, political views, education levels, and habits of using substances.

According to researchers, there are three factors that cause mental disorders in the couple. Starting from humans tend to choose a similar partner, humans choose a partner in a limited circle or circle, and couples who live together for a long time tend to be more similar.

Seperti yang ditunjukkan hasil kami, kesamaan pasangan dalam dan antar-pairan gangguan korban konsisten di berbagai negara dna bertahan cross generasi, menunjukkan fenomena universal, jelasnya.

However, there are a number of limitations in the study. For example, the study did not distinguish couples who met before or after the diagnosis.

However, the pattern that looks strong enough remains meaningful for mental health studies. Research is also considered useful for further developing studies of mental disorders.

"Given the widespread correlation of partners, it is important to consider a couple's pattern that is not random when designing a genetic study of psychiatric disorders," he concluded.