Comparison of the Effectiveness of Gottman Couple Therapy and Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy on Emotion Regulation in Couples

Emotion regulation is essential for having effective marital and family relationships. This study was conducted to compare the effectiveness of the Gottman Couple Therapy (GCT) and the Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFCT) on couples’ Emotion regulation.

The method of this study was quasi-experimental using pre-test and post-test with a control group design. The sample consisted of 36 couples who were selected from couples who referred to counseling centers in Shahroud city. The selected participants were matched according to the scores lower than the average in Spanier’s (1976) Marital Adjustment Scale and were then assigned to two experimental groups and one control group (12 couples is each group). One experimental group received 10 weeks of GCT, the other experimental group received 9 weeks of EFCT. The control group received no intervention. Before and after the intervention, all participants completed the Deficit Emotional Regulation Scale (Gratz & Roemer, 2004).

The results showed that differences in all components of deficit emotional regulation scale were significant in both experimental groups compared to the control group indicating that both methods were significantly effective on emotion regulation capability in couples. Moreover, comparing the two interventions showed that EFCT is more effective than GCT in affecting four components of deficit emotion regulation including non-acceptance of negative emotions, difficulties engaging in goal-directed behaviors, difficulties controlling impulsive behaviors, and lack of emotional awareness.