The efficacy of horney psychoanalytic therapy on personality organization of divorce applicant women: a single subject study on three personality types

Many studies have shown that psychological therapies are effective in preventing divorce. There is a lack of research in the field of psychoanalytic treatment with the aim of changing or modifying the personality structure of neurotic women seeking divorce.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of Horney psychoanalysis based on three personality types on the personality organization of women divorce applicants.

This study was a single-subject design of A/B type. 6 subjects from all women seeking divorce referred to some counseling centers in Tehran in 1399 were selected by purposive sampling and were assigned to three groups of two by answering the Horney-College questionnaire (2011). The Interview of the Personality Organization (STIPO-R) Clarkin (2016) was conducted in three stages. The treatment was administered in totally fifteen 60-minute sessions, 1 sessions weekly and follow-up was one month later. The obtained data were analyzed using standard visual drawing method, stable change index with modified formula to calculate statistically significant change and using the improvement percentage formula.

Horney psychoanalytic therapy causes changes in the subscales of identity (%44/16 improvement), object relations (%33/98 improvement), immature defenses (%49/71 improvement), aggression (%44/65 improvement), moral values (%48/6 improvement) and narcissism (%54/16 improvement). Their change in reliable index also showed that these changes were significant
(P< 0/05) & (P< 0/01).

These findings indicate significant changes in the components of personality structure, so Horney analytical psychotherapy by changing the personality structure of neurotic women seeking divorce can be usefull for psychologists and couple therapists to prevent divorce.