The Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on Marital Intimacy and Identification of the Basic Psychological Needs among Couples Referring to Counseling Centers

Introduction: If couples do not acquire communication and conflict resolution skills, their disagreements will continue at first verbally and then behaviorally. Thus, the gradual destruction in marital intimacy will begin.  Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy on the couplechr('39')s intimacy and identification of basic psychological needs in couples referring to counseling centers.  Materials and Methods: This is a quasi-experimental study with a Pre-test-Post-test design and control group. The study population consisted of all couples referring to counseling centers of Ahvaz City, Iran, in the year 2018-2019. The sample was recruited with a convenience sampling method consisting of 40 couples that were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups (20 in each group). To collect information, we used Thompson and Walkerchr('39')s (1983) marital intimacy scale and Glaser basic need questionnaire. The experimental group underwent cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy (eight 90-minute sessions), but the control group received no intervention. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (repeated measure ANOVA). Results: The cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy was effective in increasing marital intimacy and identifying the basic needs of the couples (P<0.05). Conclusion: Based on the results, cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy was effective in improving the intimacy and identification of basic needs in couples of couples referring to counseling centers. 

Keywords:

Cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy , Marital intimacy , Basic needs of couples