Comparison of the Effectiveness of Emotionally-focused Therapy and Cognitive-behavioral Therapy on Improving Emotion Regulation and Marital Satisfaction in Couples with Conflicts with Alertness-inhibition early Maladaptive Schema

Background: Family is arguably, the most important social institution and it is very necessary to deal with family affairs. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to compare the effect of emotionally-focused therapy (EFT) and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) on improving emotion regulation (ER) and marital satisfaction (MS) in couples with conflicts with early maladaptive schema (EMS) of alertness-inhibition. Methods: The current research was a semi-experimental type with a pre-test and post-test design, two experimental and a control group.The statistical population included all marital conflict clients who referred to Mehrpaya clinic in Mashhad in 1402, who have active alertness-inhibition schema. The sample included 45 members that were selected by available sampling method and randomly placed in three groups of 15 people. All participants completed the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (DERS) and ENRICH Marital Satisfaction (EMS) as a pre-test. Then, the first experimental group was subjected to EFT with protocol of Greenberg and Watson, and the second experimental group was subjected to CBT, and the people of the control group did not receive any intervention, and after the intervention, all participants completed the questionnaires used in the pre-test. completed in post-test conditions. Results: The results of MANCOVA indicated the significant effectiveness of both interventions on improving ER and MS in couples (P<0.05), and no difference was observed between the effectiveness of the two interventions. Conclusion: According to the results, it can be said that both interventions can be useful for improving ER and MS in couples with conflicts with alertness-inhibition schema.

Comparison of the Effectiveness of Emotionally-focused Therapy and Cognitive-behavioral Therapy on Improving Emotion Regulation and Marital Satisfaction in Couples with Conflicts with Alertness-inhibition early Maladaptive Schema Keywords:

Emotion-focused therapy , Cognitive Behavioral Therapy , Emotional Regulation , marital satisfaction , Cognitive Schemas