Volume 32, Issue 1 (3-2025)
RJMS 2025, 32(1): 1-10 |
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Research code: این مقاله مستخرح از رساله دکتری میباشد
Ethics code: IR.IAU.QOM.REC.1403.054
Clinical trials code: این مقاله مستخرح از رساله دکتری میباشد
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Zargarinejad M, Alizadeh Fard S, Davoodi A. Comparing the Effects of Two Couples Therapy Methods: Reality Therapy and Emotion-Focused Couples Therapy on Couples' Empathy, Forgiveness, and Marital Expectations. RJMS 2025; 32 (1) :1-10
URL: http://rjms.iums.ac.ir/article-1-9027-en.html
URL: http://rjms.iums.ac.ir/article-1-9027-en.html
Associate Professor, Department of Cognitive Psychology, Payam Noor University, Tehran, Iran , salizadehfard@gmail.com
Abstract: (452 Views)
Background & Aims: In different cultures, the marital relationship is considered as the primary source of support and affection, and couples are expected to show a special relationship with honesty, interest, affection, as well as intimacy and support. However, in some cases, the relationship between couples is not compatible and is accompanied by conflicts. In these situations, couples therapy methods such as emotion-focused therapy are used to improve the relationship between couples (1). Another intervention that can be used to improve relationships between couples is reality therapy (4). According to Glasser, problems and harms in marital life result from each partner's attempt to control the other in order to satisfy their own needs and desires (5). In reality therapy, the goal is to reduce external control and increase internal control in couples (6). In this context, the results of a study by Farhadi et al. (2020) showed that reality therapy has an effect on marital intimacy and sexual function of newly married couples (7). Also, in another study in this regard, Moridi et al. (2019) showed that reality therapy has an effect on life satisfaction, communication skills, and marital satisfaction (8). Therefore, researchers are seeking to answer the question: Is there a difference between the effectiveness of emotion-focused couple therapy and couple therapy with a reality therapy approach on marital forgiveness, marital expectations, and couples' empathy?
Methods: To conduct this quantitative, applied, and semi-experimental study, 45 couples were selected as a sample from couples referring to counseling centers in Tehran in 1402 using convenience sampling method and were randomly divided into three groups: first experiment, second experiment, and control. The subjects completed the questionnaires of Ray et al. (2001), Jones and Nelson's Expectations of Marriage, and the Empathy Questionnaire (Jolliffe and Farrington, 2006) in pre-test and post-test. Next, the emotion-focused couple therapy group based on the emotion-focused approach (Johnson, 2004) had two sessions per week, for a total of 10 90-minute sessions, and the reality therapy couple therapy group had two sessions per week, for a total of 9 sessions, each session lasting 90 minutes. Next, descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics including the covariance test and the Bonferroni post hoc test were used to statistically analyze the data.
Results: The results of the univariate analysis of covariance of marital forgiveness of couples in the experimental and control groups, by controlling for the pre-test effect, showed that the post-test of marital forgiveness with a value of F = 8.261, at an alpha level of less than p < 0.05, showed a significant difference between the studied groups. Also, the effect size was calculated to be 0.287. Therefore, it was concluded that emotion-focused couple therapy has an effect on couples' marital forgiveness. Also, the results of the Bonferroni post hoc test showed that there was a significant difference in couples' marital forgiveness between the two experimental groups and the control group (p<0.05); meaning that both emotion-focused couple therapy and couple therapy with a reality therapy approach had a significant improvement in marital forgiveness compared to the control group. And considering that the average scores of marital forgiveness among the two groups of emotion-focused couple therapy and couple therapy with a reality therapy approach were higher than the control group, it can be concluded that emotion-focused couple therapy and couple therapy with a reality therapy approach had a positive effect on couples' marital forgiveness (p<0.05). The results of the study also showed that among the two methods of emotion-focused couple therapy and couple therapy with a reality therapy approach in improving marital forgiveness, the effect of couple therapy with a reality therapy approach was greater than emotion-focused couple therapy in the post-test phase (p<0.05). Results: Regarding the post-test of marital expectations in the components of realistic expectation (F=31.59), ideal expectation (F=28.10), and pessimistic expectation (F=5.60), a significant difference was observed between the studied groups at an alpha level of less than p<0.01. Also, the effect size was calculated for the components of realistic expectation (0.618), ideal expectation (0.59), and pessimistic expectation (0.223). Therefore, it was concluded that emotion-focused couple therapy has an effect on couples' marital expectations. The results of the Bonferroni post hoc test showed that there was a significant difference in couples' marital expectations between the two experimental groups and the control group (p<0.05); this means that both emotion-focused couple therapy and couple therapy with a reality therapy approach had a significant improvement in marital expectations compared to the control group. And considering that the mean scores of marital expectations among the two groups of emotion-focused couple therapy and couple therapy with a reality therapy approach in the post-test phase were higher than the control group, it can be concluded that emotion-focused couple therapy and couple therapy with a reality therapy approach had a positive effect on the couples' marital expectations (p<0.05). The results also showed that there was no significant difference between the two groups (p<0.05). The results of univariate analysis of covariance of couples' empathy in the experimental and control groups, controlling for the pre-test effect, show that there was a significant difference between the studied groups in the post-test of couples' empathy in the components of emotional empathy (F=47.34) and cognitive empathy (F=66.54), at an alpha level of p<0.01. Also, the effect size of emotional empathy (0.703) and cognitive empathy (0.769) was calculated. Therefore, it was concluded that emotion-focused couple therapy has an effect on couples' empathy. The results of the Bonferroni post hoc test showed that there was a significant difference in couples' empathy between the two experimental groups and the control group (p<0.05); This means that both emotion-focused couple therapy and couple therapy with a reality therapy approach groups had a significant improvement in the subjects' empathy compared to the control group, and given that the average empathy scores among the emotion-focused couple therapy and couple therapy with a reality therapy approach groups were higher than the control group in the first stage, It can be seen that emotion-focused couple therapy and reality therapy couple therapy had a positive effect on couples' empathy (p<0.05). The results of the study also showed that there was no significant difference between emotion-focused couple therapy and reality therapy couple therapy in improving couples' empathy (p<0.05).
Conclusion: The results showed that emotion-focused couple therapy and reality therapy couple therapy had an effect on couples' marital forgiveness. Emotion-focused therapy helps couples access and express, their underlying hurt feelings. Expressing vulnerable underlying feelings breaks the vicious cycle of interactions and deepens couples' intimacy (16). In the same context, Driver and Gottman (2004) showed that negative processes, such as blame and distance, predict ongoing relationship breakdown (17).
In fact, reality therapy helps individuals become aware of their desires and participate in orientation, assessment, and planning to identify challenges and find solutions to them (23). The study by Arab et al. (2023) showed that implementing the reality therapy intervention increased the scores of couples' intimacy needs and all of its subscales; because reality therapy intervention focuses on accepting responsibility, valuing thinking, and acting in life rather than making excuses, it can help couples identify their intimacy needs and communicate more effectively with their spouse (23).
Keywords: Emotion-Focused Couple Therapy, Reality Therapy Couple Therapy, Marital Forgiveness, Marital Expectations, Components of Couples' Empathy
Type of Study: Research |
Subject:
Clinical Psychiatry
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