A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Cognitive – Behavioral Couple Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Couple Therapy in the Couple’s Conflict in the City of Isfahan

Abstract

Background: Marriage is a social process that forms the basis and principle of human communication. In many couples, primary positive feelings decrease in time and are replaced by severe conflicts. What is of high importance is the couples’ reaction to these problems. Their ability to apply problem- solving skills can be a factor in the improvement of the couples’ relationship. Methods: A quasi-experimental study with pretest, posttest design and control group was applied. The statistical population included all conflicted couples referring to consultation centers in the city of Isfahan in 2016. The subjects were recruited in voluntary form. The experimental groups included a group of cognitive-behavioral couple therapy (CBCT) (15 couples) and another group of acceptance and commitment couple therapy (ACT) (15 couples). Both groups received 12 ninety-minute sessions of therapy once a week. 15 couples were put into the control group. The study instruments were a questionnaire on demographic features and Barati and Sana’ie’s questionnaire of marital conflicts. In order to analyze the data, besides descriptive statistical methods, COVARIANCE analysis was used in SPSS. Results: The results revealed that cognitive-behavioral couple therapy and acceptance and commitment couple therapy made significant changes in conflict decrease at the posttest stage (P 0.05). Conclusions: According to the results, cognitive-behavioral couple therapy and acceptance and commitment couple therapy made significant changes in conflict decrease at the posttest stage and there was no significant difference between the effects of these two therapeutic methods at the posttest stage. Therefore, the present study provides experimental support for both therapies in order to decrease the marital conflicts.