A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Schema Therapy and Emotion-Focused Couple Therapy on Marital Disenchantment in Couples with Marital Conflicts
Keywords:
schema-based couples therapy, emotion-focused couples therapy, marital disenchantmentAbstract
Objective: The present study aimed to compare the effectiveness of schema therapy and emotion-focused couple therapy on marital disenchantment in couples experiencing marital conflicts. Methods and Materials: This research employed a quasi-experimental design with a three-group pretest-posttest framework. The statistical population consisted of all couples with marital conflicts who sought services at the Mehrdoostan Counseling Center in Mashhad during the first half of 2023. For sampling, a purposive and convenience sampling method was used to select 30 individuals, who were then randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group (15 participants per group). The study utilized the Marital Disenchantment Scale (MDS; Kayser, 1993) as its assessment tool. The intervention consisted of Young’s schema therapy protocol (2003) and Johnson’s emotion-focused couple therapy protocol (2012), delivered in ten 90-minute group sessions for the experimental groups. Data were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) via SPSS-22 software at a significance level of 0.05. Findings: Statistical findings revealed that at both posttest and follow-up stages, there were significant differences between the schema therapy and emotion-focused therapy groups compared to the control group regarding the variable of marital disenchantment (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Based on these findings, it can be concluded that counseling centers and family clinics can benefit from the application of both therapeutic approaches, with a preference for group counseling and psychotherapy formats.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Gol Maryam Nazer , Abolfazl Bakhshipour, Mehdi Ghasemi Motlagh (Author)
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