Comparison of the effectiveness of emotion-focused group couple therapy and emotional schema therapy on experimental avoidance of stonewalling communication style couples

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of emotion-focused group couple therapy and couple emotional schema therapy on experimental avoidance of couples with stonewalling communication style in Tehran in the year 2021. The present study was a quasi-experimental study with pretest, posttest, follow-up and control group. From the community of couples with stone wall communication style in Tehran in 1400, 60 people (30 couples) were selected by available and purposeful sampling and were randomly assigned to two experimental groups and a control group. Subjects in the experimental and control groups responded to the multidimensional scales of experimental avoidance in three stages of pre-test, post-test and follow-up. Then, emotion-focused group therapy and emotional schema therapy were performed for the experimental groups in 10 sessions. Data were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance. The results showed that emotion-focused couple therapy and couple emotion schema therapy reduced the fear of intimacy and experimental avoidance and their components in couples with stonewalling communication style (p<001). Based on the results, paying attention to this approach in treatment and counseling programs as an effective method to reduce the fear of intimacy and experimental avoidance of couples in Tehran with a stonewalling communication style can be useful.