Marriage, Mental Health and Indian Legislation
MARRIAGE, MENTAL HEALTH AND INDIAN LEGISLATION
Dr. T.S.Sathyanarayana Rao1, Dr. S. Nambi2 & Dr. Chandrashekar .H3 Marriage is one of the most important events of life affecting social status as well as the psyche of an individual. It not only serves to satisfy the fundamental biological need of sexual gratification through a socially acceptable way but also helps the individual to achieve a higher level of personality maturation. Historically marriage existed in one form or another in every culture, ensuring social sanction to a physical union between man and woman and laying the foundation for building up of family. Nambi (2005)1 has reviewed it extensively. There are a variety of marital patterns such as (i) monogamy, (ii) bigamy, (iii) polygamy, (iv) stable marital arrangements/companionship, and (v) same-sex marriage. In most cultures monogamy is held as ideal. Same-sex marriage has been much talked about in recent times. Many countries abhor the basic concept of same-sex marriage; some countries have legalized it. Whether or not same-sex union should be recognized has been discussed in many state legislatures in the West. ln India, homosexuality and lesbianism are not only considered taboo, but also an offence. That does not mean that this practice is uncommon here. It should be noted that gay and lesbian psychiatry is one of the specialty sections of the American Psychiatric Association. The increasing acceptance of divorce has dramatically altered the marriage situation. While couples still marry at the same constant rate, more than half of all couples married in the USA are now divorced. In India, even though the rate of divorce is not alarming, it is rapidly increasing-presently it is 5%-7%. There are many in our society who believe that easy marriage and divorce cheapen the institution of marriage and threaten the structure of the family. This may or may not be true, but either way, laws in reality have very little impact on the rates of marriage and
Dr. T.S.Sathyanarayana Rao1, Dr. S. Nambi2 & Dr. Chandrashekar .H3 Marriage is one of the most important events of life affecting social status as well as the psyche of an individual. It not only serves to satisfy the fundamental biological need of sexual gratification through a socially acceptable way but also helps the individual to achieve a higher level of personality maturation. Historically marriage existed in one form or another in every culture, ensuring social sanction to a physical union between man and woman and laying the foundation for building up of family. Nambi (2005)1 has reviewed it extensively. There are a variety of marital patterns such as (i) monogamy, (ii) bigamy, (iii) polygamy, (iv) stable marital arrangements/companionship, and (v) same-sex marriage. In most cultures monogamy is held as ideal. Same-sex marriage has been much talked about in recent times. Many countries abhor the basic concept of same-sex marriage; some countries have legalized it. Whether or not same-sex union should be recognized has been discussed in many state legislatures in the West. ln India, homosexuality and lesbianism are not only considered taboo, but also an offence. That does not mean that this practice is uncommon here. It should be noted that gay and lesbian psychiatry is one of the specialty sections of the American Psychiatric Association. The increasing acceptance of divorce has dramatically altered the marriage situation. While couples still marry at the same constant rate, more than half of all couples married in the USA are now divorced. In India, even though the rate of divorce is not alarming, it is rapidly increasing-presently it is 5%-7%. There are many in our society who believe that easy marriage and divorce cheapen the institution of marriage and threaten the structure of the family. This may or may not be true, but either way, laws in reality have very little impact on the rates of marriage and
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