The Effectiveness of Compassion-based Couple Therapy on Increasing Segregation and Reducing Marital Conflicts

In marital conflicts, couples show violent and hostile behaviors towards each other. Couple therapy is one of the techniques that can help couples in this regard. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of compassion-focused couple therapy on increasing differentiation and reducing marital conflict.

The present study was a quasi-experimental type of pretest, posttest and follow-up with a control group. The statistical population of this study included all couples who were admitted to counseling centers in Kerman in 2009. Using the available sampling method, 24 couples were selected and randomly divided into two groups. The experimental group received compassion-focused couple therapy training in 8 sessions of 60 minutes per week, but no intervention was performed on the control group. Skowron (1998) self-differentiation questionnaires and Sanaei Zaker (2008) marital conflict questionnaires were administered before and after the intervention. Data analysis was performed using analysis of variance.

The results showed that compassion-focused couple therapy had a significant effect on increasing differentiation (F=7612/114, p<0.001) and reducing marital conflicts in couples (F=275/44, p<0.001).

According to the results of the present study and research background, compassion-focused couple therapy can be suggested as an effective way to increase differentiation and reduce marital conflict between couples with communication problems.