Identifying Couples’ Interpersonal Pathologies among Women with Attachment Anxiety

The present study was aimed to qualitatively study the couples’ interpersonal pathologies among women with attachment anxiety. The statistical population was all women with attachment anxiety and their spouses, who referred to counseling centers in Isfahan due to marital problems in 2018-2019. All specialists and therapists who were knowledgeable about attachment anxiety and its consequences and had also written texts, articles, and scientific books on the subject of attachment anxiety and the problems in the interpersonal relationships among women with attachment anxiety were a part of the statistical population. Among those who scored the highest in the Sub-scale of Attachment Anxiety of Experiences in Close Relationship Scale (Brennan et al., 1998, quoted in Wei, Russell & Zakalik, 2005), 10 women with their spouses were selected through the use of purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews were used for data collection and the analysis of the findings was conducted by using a thematic analysis. The findings generally included 10 subcategories, which were classified into three main categories of emotional pathologies, communicational pathologies, and functional pathologies, based on similarities and differences and content comparisons. The results showed that identifying interpersonal pathologies among women with attachment anxiety and providing preventive therapeutic solutions appropriate to each pathology can be a great help in maintaining couples’ relationships, increasing marital satisfaction and promoting community health.