According to the American Psychiatric Association, the locus of a relational disorder, in contrast to other DSM-IV disorders, “is on the relationship rather than on any one individual in the relationship (e.g., a parent is withdrawn with one child but not with other siblings).

Despite this major conceptual difference, relational disorders share many elements in common with other disorders: there are distinctive features for classification; they can cause clinically significant impairment; there are recognizable clinical courses and patterns of comorbidity; they respond to specific treatments; and they can be prevented with early interventions. Specific tasks in a proposed research agenda: develop assessment modules; determine the clinical utility of relational disorders; determine the role of relational disorders in the etiology and maintenance of individual disorders; and consider aspects of relational disorders that might be modulated by individual disorders.”^[1] The proposed new diagnosis defines a relational disorder as “persistent and painful patterns of feelings, behaviors, and perceptions” among two or more people in an important personal relationship, such a husband and wife, or a parent and children.^[2]
According to psychiatrist Darrel Regier, MD, some psychiatrists and other therapists involved in couples and marital counseling have recommended that the new diagnosis be considered for possible incorporation into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV). ^[2]