The effectiveness of Couple Emotion-Focused Therapy on alexithymia and marital disaffection in working women with marital conflicts

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Master's student in General Psychology, Department of Psychology, Malard Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

The present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy on alexithymia and marital disaffection in working women experiencing marital conflicts. This research was applied in terms of purpose and used a semi-experimental method with a pre-test, post-test, and follow-up design, including a control group. The statistical population consisted of all working women with marital conflicts who were referred to counseling centers in Tehran in 2024. The sample included 30 participants who were randomly selected and homogenized by age into two groups: intervention and control. Participants completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale by Bagby et al. (1994) and the Marital Disaffection Scale by Kayser (1996) during the pre-test, post-test, and follow-up phases. Couple Emotion-Focused Therapy was conducted according to Johnson's protocol (2019) over 12 weekly sessions, each lasting 90 minutes. Data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA with significance levels set at 0.05 and 0.01, employing SPSS-22 software. The results showed that Couple Emotion-Focused Therapy significantly reduced alexithymia (P=0.001). The interaction effect of time and group also resulted in a significant decrease in alexithymia (P = 0.001) compared to the control group. Additionally, the therapy significantly reduced marital disaffection (P=0.001), with the time*group interaction showing a significant decrease in marital dissatisfaction (P=0.001) relative to controls. Overall, the findings indicate that Couple Emotion-Focused Therapy targeting emotional alexithymia and marital disaffection is effective for working women with marital conflicts.

Keywords

References

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Iranian Journal of Organizational psychology
Volume 2, Issue 3
October 2025
Pages 28-34

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