The Effects of Imagotherapy on Attachment Styles in Couples

Relationships play an essential role in individuals' lives; almost all intimate relationships are intertwined with problems. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of imagotherapy on attachment style in couples who were referred to counseling centers in Rey City, Iran.

This was a quasi–experimental study with pretest–posttest–follow–up and a control group design. The study's statistical population was all couples referring to urban counseling centers. Moreover, purposive and multistage random sampling techniques were applied in this research. Initially, out of 360 referrals (180 couples) to urban counseling centers in the three first months of 2016, the inclusion criteria were assessed, and those who met the criteria were selected. Next, the remaining individuals were contacted by telephone to determine their willingness to participate in counseling sessions. Accordingly, those referred to counseling centers and willing to participate in family therapy sessions were selected. Then, 40 couples were chosen from the present clients. Consequently, the Adult Attachment Scale (AAS) was conducted (pretest). In the fifth step, by simple random substitution, the study subjects were assigned to two groups of 20 couples (Imagotherapy & control). First, three classes were arranged, and each group name was written on the class, containing 40 test codes. In other words, three codes were selected each time by lottery and randomly assigned to one of the sheets; thus, two groups of 20 couples were identified. Imagotherapy sessions were then conducted by the researcher for the experimental group in ten 90–minute weekly sessions. Appropriate training was provided each week based on the goals set for that meeting. At the beginning of the session, the topics were reviewed, and the homework was reviewed. Then, the main topic of the discussion was discussed among the group members. At the end of each session, the subjects were assigned the relevant homework. After the training sessions, the AAS was re–administered (posttest). The results were re–evaluated (follow–up) one month after the last session by administering a questionnaire. The obtained data were analyzed using parametric statistics (Levene's test, Kolmogorov–Smirnov test), Independent Samples t–test, and Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA).

The collected results indicated no significant difference between the Imagotherapy group in attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety; however, the experimental and control groups were significantly different respecting attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety (p<0.001). The statistical analysis of the data and comparing the differences between the pretest and posttest scores of the two groups revealed that imagotherapy could affect the couples' attachment style.

Imagotherapy, through rebuilding your emotional connection by gifting, appreciating, and performing enjoyable activities, rebuilding disappointments and frustrations and turning complaints into requests, resolving anger, and re–examining the relationship as resource happiness, satisfaction, and security, affects couples' attachment styles.