The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Marital Burnout, Alexithymia and Life Quality of Women Exposed to Infidelity

The main purpose of the present study was to examine the effectiveness of Acceptance & commitment therapy on alexithymia, marital burnout and life quality of women exposed to Infidelity. This research was quasi experimental with a pre-test/post-test design with control group. The target population included women referred to Mashhad counselling centers who were exposed to spouse sexual infidelity. Twenty women were selected by convinance sampling and randomly assigned to two experimental and control groups. Each group included 10 members. Before training both groups went under pre-test in which they were asked to complete Toronto Alexithymia scale, Pines Marital Burnout Questionnaire and Life Quality Questionnaire. The experimental group went under Acceptance & commitment therapy in groups which was designed for 12 sessions, whereas the control group didn’t receive any training. After training sessions, post- test was performed and data was analyzed by using ANCOVA. The results showed that the treatment based on acceptance and commitment on mood dysphoria (F = 7.74, P = 0.012), marital boredom (F = 9.32, P = 0.007) and quality of life (93 / 10 = F, P = 0.004) Women affected by marital infidelity are effective; and this effect was stable in the follow-up phase. Therefore, because of the mental flexibility of this therapy, it can be used for those women suffering from infidelity.