Spousal relationship satisfaction following acquired brain injury: The role of insight and socio-emotional skill

Spousal relationships following brain injury are particularly vulnerable to strain and breakdown. Changes in personality and socio-emotional processing and behaviour have been implicated as causal factors. We examined spousal relationship satisfaction following an acquired brain injury to one partner. Couples affected by chronic pain and a group of healthy couples were used for comparison and control. Compared to healthy controls cur-rent satisfaction was poorer in the brain injury couples, and satisfaction with the relationship had reduced from pre to post-injury. We found an especially important role for empathy, which differentiated between the groups in terms of functioning and insight.