Effectiveness of Emotion-Focused Couple Therapy in Insecure Attachment Styles

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Ph.D. Student in Counseling, Department of Psychology, Qom Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qom, Iran

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Qom Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qom, Iran

3 Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Qom Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qom, Iran

Abstract

Background: Marital infidelity is an interpersonal trauma that can lead to cognitive, emotional, and behavioral symptoms in the affected person.
 
Objective: The goal of this study was to determine the effectiveness of emotion-focused couple therapy in insecure attachment styles in women and men affected by spousal infidelity.
 
Methods: This study was quasi-experimental research with pre-test, post-test and follow-up with control group. The statistical population of this study included all men and women who were referred to counseling centers in Tehran in 2019-20 due to spousal infidelity. A total of 40 patients were randomly assigned to two groups: experimental and control, using a convenience sampling procedure. The intervention was not given to the control group. The Control group did not receive the intervention. Data were collected using an attachment styles questionnaire (Hazen & Shaver, 1987), and a multivariate covariance analysis test was used to eliminate the effect of pre-test using SPSS software.
 
Results: The results demonstrated that emotion-focused couple therapy affected the scores of insecure attachment styles (P<0.01). It was also revealed that the method of training was to enrich couples' relationships with an emotion-focused approach in the follow-up phase (P<0.01).
 
Conclusion: As evidenced by the results of this study, it can be stated that emotion-focused couple therapy is effective in women and men affected by spousal infidelity; therefore, it can be successfully used as a therapeutic or educational method in couple therapy programs.
 

Keywords

Open Access Policy: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References

1. Abadi HK, Khodabakhsh M, Kiani F. Effectiveness of Forgiveness-oriented Group Counseling based on Islamic Perspective to Restore the Marriage Relationship after Marital Infidelity. Medical Ethics Journal. 2017;10(38):29-36. https://doi.org/10.21859/mej-103829
https://doi.org/10.21859/mej-103829
 
2. DiMaggio, Dominic J. "What Contributes to Marital Satisfaction? The Relationship between Attachment Style, Emotion Regulation, Mentalization and Marital Satisfaction." PhD diss., Alliant International University, 2020.
 
3. Harris, Caleb. "Characteristics of emotional and physical marital infidelity that predict divorce." PhD diss., Alliant International University, 2018.
 
4. Joulazadeh Esmaeili AA, Karimi J, Goodarzi K, Asgari M. Comparison of the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment-based Couple Therapy and emotionally focused couple therapy on unadjusted couples' attachment styles. Family Counseling and Psychotherapy. 2020;9(2):1-30.
 
5. Cheraghisifabad N, Ehtesham Zadeh P, Askari P, Johari Fard R. Survey and comparison of the effectiveness of schema mode therapy and emotionally focused couples therapy in increasing secure attachment style and reducing avoidant and ambivalent attachment styles in couples with marital conflict. Biannual Journal of Applied Counseling. 2021;10(2):73-98.
 
6. Carnes-Holt K. Child-parent relationship therapy for adoptive families. The Family Journal. 2012;20(4):419-26. https://doi.org/10.1177/1066480712451242
https://doi.org/10.1177/1066480712451242
 
7. Hocking EC, Simons RM, Surette RJ. Attachment style as a mediator between childhood maltreatment and the experience of betrayal trauma as an adult. Child abuse & neglect.2016;52:94-101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2016.01.001
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2016.01.001
PMid:26821738
 
8. Simpson JA, Rholes WS. Adult attachment, stress, and romantic relationships. Current opinion in psychology.2017;13:19-24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2016.04.006
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2016.04.006
PMCid:PMC4845754
 
9. Hangen F, Crasta D, Rogge RD. Delineating the boundaries between nonmonogamy and infidelity: Bringing consent back into definitions of consensual nonmonogamy with latent profile analysis. The Journal of Sex Research. 2020;57(4):438-57. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2019.1669133
https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2019.1669133
PMid:31584295
 
10. Lichtenstein MB, Christiansen E, Elklit A, Bilenberg N, Støving RK. Exercise addiction: a study of eating disorder symptoms, quality of life, personality traits and attachment styles. Psychiatry research. 2014;215(2):410-6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2013.11.010
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2013.11.010
PMid:24342179
 
11. Halford, W. Kim, and Douglas K. Snyder. "Universal processes and common factors in couple therapy and relationship education: Guest editors: W. Kim Halford and Douglas K. Snyder." 2012: 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2011.01.007
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2011.01.007
PMid:22304874
 
12. Westmacott R, Edmondstone C. Working with Transgender and Gender Diverse Clients in Emotion Focused Therapy: Targeting Minority Stress. Person-Centered & Experiential Psychotherapies. 2020;19(4):331-49. https://doi.org/10.1080/14779757.2020.1717986
https://doi.org/10.1080/14779757.2020.1717986
 
13. Madani Y, Hashemi Golpayegani F, Gholamali Lavasani M. Proposing an integrated model of emotional focused approach and Gottman model and its effectiveness on quality of marital relationship in married women. Applied Psychological Research Quarterly. 2017;7(4):73-88.
 
14. Suhron M, Yusuf A, Subarniati R, Amir F, Zainiyah Z. How does forgiveness therapy versus emotion-focused therapy reduce violent behavior schizophrenia post restrain at East Java, Indonesia . International Journal of Public Health. 2020;9(4):314-9. https://doi.org/10.11591/ijphs.v9i4.20538
https://doi.org/10.11591/ijphs.v9i4.20538
 
15. Wittenborn AK, Liu T, Ridenour TA, Lachmar EM, Mitchell EA, Seedall RB. Randomized controlled trial of emotionally focused couple therapy compared to treatment as usual for depression: Outcomes and mechanisms of change. Journal of marital and family therapy. 2019;45(3):395-409. https://doi.org/10.1111/jmft.12350
https://doi.org/10.1111/jmft.12350
PMid:30105808
 
16. Greenman PS, Johnson SM. Process research on emotionally focused therapy (EFT) for couples: Linking theory to practice. Family Process. 2013;52(1):46-61. https://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12015
https://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12015
PMid:25408089
 
17. Glisenti, Kevin, Esben Strodl, Robert King, and Leslie Greenberg. "Emotion-Focused Therapy for Binge-Eating Disorder: A Pilot Randomized Control Trial." 2020;2(3):23-40. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-30265/v1
https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-30265/v1
 
18. Adamson NA. Emotionally focused therapy with couples facing breast cancer: a theoretical foundation and descriptive case study. Journal of psychosocial oncology. 2013;31(6):712-26. https://doi.org/10.1080/07347332.2013.835024
https://doi.org/10.1080/07347332.2013.835024
PMid:24175904
 
19. Harte M, Strmelj B, Theiler S. Processing emotional pain using the expanded Emotion Focused Therapy task of Focusing: A single-session case study. Person-Centered & Experiential Psychotherapies. 2020;19(1):66-93. https://doi.org/10.1080/14779757.2019.1618372
https://doi.org/10.1080/14779757.2019.1618372
 
20. Shahmoradi S, Afshar HK, Goudarzy M, Lavasani MG. Effectiveness of emotion-focused therapy in reduction of marital violence and improvement of family functioning: A quasi-experimental study. Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal. 2019;21(11):15-31. https://doi.org/10.5812/ircmj.97183
https://doi.org/10.5812/ircmj.97183
 
21. Hazan C, Shaver P. Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process. Journal of personality and social psychology. 1987;52(3):511. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.52.3.511
https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.52.3.511
PMid:3572722
 
22. Valikhani A, Salajeghe MS, Khormaee FA. Predicting students' domain specific hope within the framework of their attachment styles. Knowl Res Appl Psychol. 2016; 17:65-73.
 
23. Burgess Moser M, Johnson SM, Dalgleish TL, Lafontaine MF, Wiebe SA, Tasca GA. Changes in relationship‐specific attachment in emotionally focused couple therapy. Journal of marital and family therapy. 2016;42(2):231-45. https://doi.org/10.1111/jmft.12139
https://doi.org/10.1111/jmft.12139
PMid:26511674
 
24. Jalali N, Heidari H, Davoudi H, Aleyasin SA. The Comparison of the Effectiveness of Emotion Focused Therapy and Gottman's Relationship Enrichment on Woman's Communication Patterns. Journal of Research in Behavioural Sciences. 2019;17(2):265-79.
https://doi.org/10.52547/rbs.17.2.265
 
25. Vazhappilly JJ, Reyes ME. Non-violent communication and marital relationship: efficacy of 'emotion-focused couples' communication program among filipino couples. Psychological Studies. 2017;62(3):275-83. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12646-017-0420-z
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12646-017-0420-z
 
26. Hazan C, Shaver P. Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process. Journal of personality and social psychology. 1987;52(3):511. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.52.3.511
https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.52.3.511
PMid:3572722
Razavi International Journal of Medicine
Volume 10, Issue 2
April 2022
Pages 1-6

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics