Comparing the Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Couple Therapy And Couple Therapy Based on Acceptance and Commitment On Reducing Marital Burnout in Couples

The decline of communication between couples and the occurrence of burnout can bring about potentially harmful and dangerous effects and consequences for couples and children. Both couple therapy based on acceptance and commitment and cognitive-behavioral couple therapy are valuable and evidence-based approaches that a great deal of research has supported. . Therefore, this study was conducted to compare the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral couple therapy and acceptance and commitment couple therapy in reducing marital burnout in couples.

This study was a quasi-experimental study with pretest, posttest and control group with 2-month follow-up. The statistical population included all couples who visited Mehrsai Counseling and Psychotherapy Center in Ashkhaneh in 2019, among whom, 60 people were selected by  convenience sampling technique and assigned to three equal groups. Therapeutic interventions were applied for each of the two couple therapy approaches in 12 sessions, 1 session per week and 90 minutes per session. But the control group did not receive any medical intervention. The Pines couple burnout measurement was used to collect data. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and repeated measures analysis of variance/ repeated measures ANOVA.

According to the results of this study, the two approaches to couple therapy made significant changes in reducing marital burnout and its dimensions in the post-test and 2-month follow-up stages(p<0.05), and there was no significant difference between the effectiveness of these two treatments(p>0.05).

Overall, the findings of the present study provide empirical support for both therapeutic approaches to reduce marital burnout in couples, and the knowledge of family and marital therapists about these therapies can be helpful.