Comparison of the Effectiveness of Emotionally-focused Therapy and Cognitive-behavioral Therapy on Improving Emotion Regulation and Marital Satisfaction in Couples with Conflicts with Alertness-inhibition early Maladaptive Schema

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Masters of clinical psychology, Faculty of Education Sciences and Psychology, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

2 Masters of General Psychology, Department of Psychology, Torbat-e Jam Branch, Islamic Azad University, Torbat-e Jam, Iran

3 Instructor, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Department of Nurcing, Islamic Azad University of Zahedan, Zahedan, Iran

Abstract

Background: Family is arguably, the most important social institution and it is very necessary to deal with family affairs.
 
Objectives: The aim of the present study was to compare the effect of emotionally-focused therapy (EFT) and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) on improving emotion regulation (ER) and marital satisfaction (MS) in couples with conflicts with early maladaptive schema (EMS) of alertness-inhibition.
 
Methods: The current research was a semi-experimental type with a pre-test and post-test design, two experimental and a control group.The statistical population included all marital conflict clients who referred to Mehrpaya clinic in Mashhad in 1402, who have active alertness-inhibition schema. The sample included 45 members that were selected by available sampling method and randomly placed in three groups of 15 people. All participants completed the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (DERS) and ENRICH Marital Satisfaction (EMS) as a pre-test. Then, the first experimental group was subjected to EFT with protocol of Greenberg and Watson, and the second experimental group was subjected to CBT, and the people of the control group did not receive any intervention, and after the intervention, all participants completed the questionnaires used in the pre-test. completed in post-test conditions.
 
Results: The results of MANCOVA indicated the significant effectiveness of both interventions on improving ER and MS in couples (P<0.05), and no difference was observed between the effectiveness of the two interventions.
 
Conclusion: According to the results, it can be said that both interventions can be useful for improving ER and MS in couples with conflicts with alertness-inhibition schema.

Keywords

Acknowledgements: Hereby, we express our gratitude to staff of Mehrpaya clinic of Mashhad, as well as all the participants who provided the basis for the implementation of this research. The current research was registered by the Ethics Committee of Islamic Azad University of Zahedan with the ethics identifier IR.IAU.ZAH.REC.1402.025 and in the Clinical Trial Registration Center of Iran with the trial identifier of IRCT20230618058511N2.

 

Availability of data and materials: Availability of Data and Materials: The data collected during this study are not publicly available due to the limited sample size, which could potentially compromise participant anonymity. However, they are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request via email.

 

Conflicts of interests: This study does not have any conflict of interests. Financial disclosure The Azad University of Zahedan was responsible for the financial issues of this research.

 

Consent for publication: Not applicable

 

Ethics approval and consent to participate: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Islamic Azad University of Zahedan with the ethics identifier IR.IAU.ZAH.REC.1402.025. It was also registered with the Clinical Trial Registration Center of Iran under the trial identifier IRCT20230618058511N2. All participants provided written informed consent prior to their participation in the study, in accordance with the ethical guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki.

 

Financial disclosure: This research was conducted as part of a project approved with funding by the Islamic Azad University of Zahedan. The study was supported through the allocated budget for this approved project. The funding body had no role in the design of the study, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or writing of the manuscript.

 

Author contributions: The current research is taken from the research plan which has been approved in Zahedan Islamic Azad University and all the authors of the current article had a direct role in the implementation of this research.

 

 

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/

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Razavi International Journal of Medicine
Volume 13, Issue 1
special issue; Psychology in Health
March 2025

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