What is "psychologically incapacitated person" as mentioned in the Family Code?

Art. 36, of the Family Code provides that a marriage by any party who at the tiime of the celebration, was psychologically incapacitated to comply with the essential marital obligations of marriage, shall likewise be void x x x x.

The committee which draft the Family Code did not give any examples of what is a psychologically incapacity for fear that the examples given would limit the applicability of the provision. Hence the committee give the judges a leeway to interpret the provision on case to case basis, guided by experience, the findings of experts and researchers in psychological disciplines, and by the decision of Church Tribunals which although not binding in civil courts.

In fact it was in Santos v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 112019, 04 January 1995, 240 SCRA 20, when the court set as guidelines that “psychological incapacity” under Article 36 of the Family Code is not meant to comprehend all possible cases of psychoses. It should refer, rather, to no less than a mental (not physical) incapacity that causes a party to be truly incognitive of the basic marital covenants that concomitantly must be assumed and discharged by the parties to the marriage.

When in fact, a person whos marriage was declared null and void because he is proven to be psychologically incapacitated in his first marriage is not prohibited to marry again because he or she might get the right partner who understands his problem.