The Effectiveness of Forgiveness Therapy on Emotional Divorce of Betrayed Couple

One of the strategies that can have a special power and learning in family relationships is forgiveness therapy. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of therapeutic forgiveness on the emotional divorce of the betrayed couple in Neka city. This study was a quasi-experimental design with a pre-test-post-test of the control group with follow-up. The statistical population of this study included all betrayed couples who were referred to counseling and social emergency centers in Neka city, from which 30 couples were selected and randomly included in two experimental and control groups. There were 8 women and 7 men in the experimental group. There were also 8 women and 7 men in the control group. Participants completed the Emotional Divorce Questionnaire Gottman,  Gottman, and Silver (1995)  in 3 sessions (pre-test, post-test, and follow-up). The experimental group was given 7 sessions of forgiveness-therapy training for 120 minutes (one session per week) and the control group did not receive any training. The results of the analysis of ANCOVA showed that there was a significant difference between the mean scores of 65/92 emotional divorce at the significance level of 0.001 in the experimental and control groups. Also, in the follow-up 3 months later, there is a significant difference in the variable of emotional divorce 25.721, in the extent of the effect of therapeutic forgiveness on emotional divorce continues. Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that forgiveness therapy is effective in reducing emotional divorce. Therefore, counselors and therapists are advised to use the method of pardon therapy in family counseling centers to improve the marital relations of the betrayed couple.