Effectiveness of emotion oriented couple therapy on reducing the damage caused by marital infidelity

Aim and Emotion focused couple therapy is one of the methods that has focused on the negative cycles of interaction caused from deep emotional vulnerability. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of emotionally focused couple therapy on reducing the damage caused by marital infidelity. Methods and Materials: The statistical sample included 30 couples that were selected through available sampling, and placed randomly in the experimental (16 couples) and control group (14 couples). The groups were assessed by pretest-posttest and Beck depression inventory-II, PTSD symptoms scale self report (PSS-SR), transgression-related interpersonal motivation and intimacy in committed relationships scale. The experiment group was exposed to 8 sessions of couple therapy. The data were analyzed by multivariate analyses of variance-one way (MANOVA-1 way). Emotion oriented couple therapy decreased depression and post-traumatic stress symptoms and increased forgiveness and intimate relationship. The results from the follow-up after a month showed that there was differences between experimental and control groups considering the scores of Beck depression inventory-II, PSS-SR, transgression-related interpersonal motivation and intimacy in committed relationships scale (P < 0.01). The efficacy of emotionally focused couple therapy remained after a month. The emotion oriented couple therapy was effective on the reduction of depression and post-traumatic stress symptoms, and increased intimacy and forgiveness in the wives of unfaithful men in both short-term and long-term.