Reality Therapy Effect on Alexithymia and Posttraumatic Growth in Women With Love Failure

Abstract

Background: Losing a love relationship in youth creates one of the most significant impacts that may occur for women, as they have been introduced to love trauma syndrome for the first time. This research study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of reality therapy in decreasing alexithymia and increasing posttraumatic growth among women who have experienced a love failure. Methods: This study was quasi-experimental research using a pre-test-post-test design with a follow-up. The statistical population comprised all women with emotional failure experiences referred to Aramandish and Chaman clinics in Tehran City, Iran, during 2021 and 2022. A purposive sampling method was used to select the samples. Thirty people were chosen as the study sample; 15 women were put in the experimental (reality therapy) group and 15 in the control group. The reality therapy intervention plan was applied to the experimental group in eight 90-minute sessions once a week, while the control group did not receive any intervention. The Toronto alexithymia scale and posttraumatic growth inventory were implemented before and after intervention sessions. Finally, the data were analyzed for variance analysis with repeated measurements and analysis of covariance using SPSS software, version 26. Results: The findings showed that after comparing the post-test and follow-up scores with the pre-test results, there is a significant difference between alexithymia (P<0.001) and posttraumatic growth (P<0.001). Likewise, a significant difference (P<0.001) in the research variables was observed between the experimental and control groups in all three measurement times. Conclusion: The findings showed that reality therapy had a significant effect on alexithymia and posttraumatic growth of women with emotional failure. Therefore, reality therapy can be used for emotional failure syndromes.