Emotion-Focused Couples Research Articles

The Effectiveness of Emotion-Focused Couples Therapy on Marital Commitment, Love Schemas, and Emotional Schemas in Couples with Extramarital Affairs

The Effectiveness of Emotion-Focused Couples Therapy on Marital Commitment, Love Schemas, and Emotional Schemas in Couples with Extramarital Affairs

Effectiveness of Emotion-Focused Couples Therapy on Sexual Function, Marital Intimacy, and Impulsivity in Women Affected by Marital Infidelity

Objective: One of the most significant factors that can disrupt family health is the breaking of commitment and exclusivity in emotional and sexual relationships, leading to extramarital affairs, also known as marital infidelity. The current study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of Emotion-Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT) on sexual function, marital intimacy, and impulsivity in women affected by marital infidelity. Methods and Materials: This study is a quasi-experimental research with a pre-test, post-test, and three-month follow-up design, accompanied by a control group. The population studied included all women affected by marital infidelity who sought help at the Yarigar counseling centers and the Organic counseling center in Tehran, who had visited these centers in the first six months of the year 2023. According to the counseling centers' officials, the total number of these individuals was 93. The sample studied consisted of 30 women affected by marital infidelity who visited counseling centers in District 2 of Tehran in 2023, selected through purposive sampling and then randomly divided into experimental and control groups. Data were collected using the Marital Intimacy Scale, the Barratt Impulsivity Scale, and the Female Sexual Function Index. In this study, the experimental group underwent 9 sessions of Emotion-Focused Therapy (one 90-minute session per week). Data were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance and SPSS software version 22. Findings: The results showed that Emotion-Focused Couples Therapy significantly improved sexual function (F=25.29, P<0.001), marital intimacy (F=5.49, P=0.026), and reduced impulsivity (F=39.46, P<0.001) in women affected by marital infidelity. Conclusion: It can be concluded that Emotion-Focused Couples Therapy is effective in improving sexual function, marital intimacy, and impulsivity in women affected by marital infidelity and can be used to reduce the psychological problems of these women.

Advantage of empty-chair dialogue over emotion-focused couples therapy for a Japanese couple with marital infidelity: A case study

Couples with marital infidelity have received many therapies, but the effective therapies for them were still unclear. The present case study utilized Emotion-Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT) and Empty-Chair Dialogue Intervention (ECDI) for a couple with marital infidelity and aimed to show advantages of ECDI over EFCT. Our case was a Japanese heterosexual couple with husband’s infidelity. The husband also had alcohol abuse and bipolar disorder, whereas the wife assaulted him physically. During the first 6 monthly sessions, they were peaceful but wife’s physical assault suddenly occurred and interrupted the therapy. During the next 5 monthly sessions, EFCT was applied for them, but his hypomanic episode and her physical assault disturbed their emotionally responsive communication during the sessions. During the last 5 biweekly sessions, ECDI was applied for the wife. She imaginary dialogued with the husband’s extramarital lovers, rather than the husband. During the ECDI sessions, she had been able to fall asleep during night and her physical assault on him had been disappeared. Even after the three-year follow up since the ECDI session, her physical assault and his marital infidelity had not occurred. Comparative advantages of ECDI over EFCT were discussed.

Efficacy of Emotion-Focused Couples Communication Program for Enhancing Couples’ Communication and Marital Satisfaction Among Distressed Partners

This study investigated the efficacy of ‘Emotion-Focused Couples’ Communication Program’ for enhancing marital communication and satisfaction among distressed couples. It used a ‘two-group randomized control trial’ with 32 couples who belonged to the urban, middle class society of Maharashtra, India. ‘Primary Communication Inventory’ and ‘Dyadic Adjustment Scale’ were used to measure the level of communication and marital satisfaction. The program lasted five weeks and the results showed significant effects elicited by the program. Two-way ANOVA was used for data analysis and Cohen’s d test measured effect’s extent. This suggested ‘Emotion-Focused Couples’ Communication Program’ to be an effective tool for enhancing communication and marriage quality, thus positing that a healthy communication between the partners ensures greater marital satisfaction in a spousal relationship.

Non-Violent Communication and Marital Relationship: Efficacy of ‘Emotion-Focused Couples’ Communication Program Among Filipino Couples

Non-Violent Communication (NVC), developed by Dr. Marshall B. Rosenberg, fosters intra- and interpersonal relationship through empathetic and compassionate communication. It has been used and proven effective in a variety of settings like schools, health care centers, jails, and in restorative and rehabilitative institutions. However, the use of NVC in the field of marital relationship is found to be relatively few. The present study aimed at investigating the efficacy of the intervention program, Emotion-Focused Couples’ Communication Program (EFCCP) in a Filipino setting. EFCCP which is an intervention program developed by the researchers based on the constructs of NVC has already been proven to be effective in a previous study involving couples in an Indian setting. This present study was undertaken to investigate the efficacy of the program’s shortened version in the Filipino setting and to test whether the program is culturally suited for Filipino married couples. Relational Communication Scale and Locke–Wallace Marital Adjustment Test were used to measure the level of communication and marital satisfaction among the couples. The EFCCP-Shortened Version was administered to a group of 12 couples for a period of 3 weeks, and the results revealed a significant difference in the level of couples’ communication and marital satisfaction among the participants. These results provided ample indications to the efficacy of the EFCCP-Shortened Version in enhancing communication and enriching marriage quality among couples across diverse settings.

A Contextual Analysis of High-Fidelity and Low-Fidelity Sessions in Emotion-Focused Couples Therapy

The purpose of this study was to explore and compare high-fidelity and low-fidelity Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy sessions across the course of treatment. Data were taken from sessions 3, 7, and 11 from two different couples. Grounded theory was used to identify emerging themes from the data. Further, a word frequency query was performed to understand the differences in language use. Results indicated that more primary emotion words were used in high-fidelity than low-fidelity sessions, while more cognitive words were used in the low-fidelity sessions. Different themes were found when comparing the high- and low-fidelity sessions and include primary focus and identifying the couples' cycle. Additional results and clinical implications are discussed.

The Effectiveness of Instructing Emotion-focused Approach in Improving the Marital Satisfaction in Couples

Emotion-focused Treatment (EFT) is a short-term and structured approach in Couples Therapy which is based on clear and evident concepts of marital desperation, affections recognition, adulthood love, and emotional responses. According to this outlook, marital agitation is formed and continues by widespread states of negative affection and attachment damages, lack of concern toward needs and internal wishes, negative interactional prototypes, and unsuitable emotional experience. The present study has been conducted for the purpose of determining the effectiveness of employing emotion-focused approach in couple's marital satisfaction. The population of this study includes couples Family Counseling Center of Education District 5 Tehran who have been married at least for three and at most for six years. Forty people (20 couples) were chosen by simple randomization and were randomly divided into two groups (one as experimental and the other one as control group). The experimental group was exposed to emotion-focused Couples Therapy intervention for eight sessions with duration of each session being ninety minutes. Meanwhile, the control group was put on the waiting list. Both groups were evaluated again after eight weeks. T-test and analysis of covariance were used for the data analysis. The results of the study indicated that the emotion-focused intervention has been effective in increasing the indicators of marital satisfaction in couples. Also, the findings of the study revealed a significant difference between women and men in emotion-focused experimental group and those in the control group.

Couples Therapy Takes a Giant Step Forward

Stated simply, Emotion-Focused Couples Therapy: The Dynamics of Emotion, Love, and Power is an outstanding book. Greenberg and Goldman have made a major contribution to the fields of couples therapy, family therapy, and the overall field of psychotherapeutic intervention. This book is very well written and quite readable. We will be integrating and digesting the material in this book for some time to come. Reader beware: There are many strengths that we identify in this text and few, if any, weaknesses.