Effectiveness of Attachment-Based Therapy Training on Intimacy and Alexithymia in Parents of Children with Intellectual Disabilities

Parents of children with Intellectual Disabilities obviously and undeniably experience the same love and joy for their children , but they also have an increased risk of encountering stressors (e.g., high medical costs), anxiety, and depression. The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the effectiveness of attachment-based therapy training on increasing intimacy and alexithymia of the parents of Intellectual Disabilities children. The population consisted of all parents of Intellectual Disabilities children in Kermanshah city, Iran, from which a sample with the size of 30 parents was randomly selected. They were then randomly divided into two groups. The experimental group participated in 8 sessions of attachment-based therapy and control group received no intervention. The research design was quasi-experimental. For data analysis, SPSS (version18) was used and the statistical method of co-variance analysis was run. The research findings revealed a significant difference between the experimental group and the control group concerning the degree of intimacy (p≥ 0.000) . However, no significant contrast was found in terms of the Alexithymia. With respect to findings of the current study, it can be concluded that training based upon the attachment style can lead to intimacy increase among Parents of children with Intellectual Disabilities.