Gottman Couple Therapy on Marital Burnout and Resilience of Conflicted Couples

Document Type : Original

Authors

1 Ph.D. Student of Psychology, Borujerd Branch, Islamic Azad University, Borujerd, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Borujerd Branch, Islamic Azad University, Borujerd, Iran.

3 Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, School of Literature and Humanity Sciences, The University of Malayer, Malayer, Iran.

4 Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Bu-Ali Sina, Hamedan, Iran.

Abstract

Background: Choosing an effective treatment method to improve family functions has always been the focus of counselors and psychotherapists. Objective: This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of couple behavioral-integrated therapy and Gottman couple therapy approaches on marital boredom and resilience of couples with marital conflict. Method: The research method was a single-case asynchronous multiple baseline design. The statistical population included all couples who were referred to Shamim Counseling Center in the winter of 2020. Samples were selected using the available non-random sampling method, which included 6 pairs of people who referred to this center, who according to the results of the Marital Relationship Quality Questionnaire (Fletcher et al, 2000; citing Madani, 2017) were classified as conflicting couples and They were randomly replaced in two groups. Gottman's treatment protocols (Gottman & Gottman, 2015) and behavioral-integrated (Poor Sardar, 2021) was performed in two to four stages baseline, 16-session intervention, and two-month follow-up. Participants answered the Marital Boredom Questionnaire (Paniz,2003) and Couples Resilience Questionnaire (Connor & Davidson, 2003). Data were analyzed by visual drawing, stable change index, and recovery percentage. Findings: The results showed that Gottman's method was more comprehensive and stable in terms of the magnitude of change, generality and stability, and the level of recovery of conflicting couples in the Gottman method and behavioral integration in the post-treatment stage compared to the behavioral-integrated method. Follow-up was marital boredom (44.55), (37.14), and couple resilience (45.69) and (38.79) percent, respectively. Conclusion: Based on the results, it can be said that despite the effectiveness of the two intervention methods, Gottman's method has played a more effective role in improving and reducing marital boredom and resilience of couples.

Keywords


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