Application of Horney's psychoanalytic theory on the marital adjustment of divorce-seeking women based on personality types: a single-subject research

One of the reasons for divorce is the inability of spouses to compromise with changes. The aim of this research was to investigate the effect of Horney's psychoanalytical theory based on three personality types of compliance, aggression and detachment on the marital adjustment of women applying for divorce. In this effort, a single subject research of B/A type has been used. The participants were selected from among the women who referred to some counseling centers in Tehran in 2019 as available sampling. After answering the Horney-Coolidge questionnaire, 2 participants were selected for each of Horney's personality types and a total of 6 participants. Then, Spanier's Marital Adjustment Questionnaire was implemented in four stages. Horney's psychoanalytic treatment was performed during 15 to 25 individual sessions of 60 minutes, one to two sessions per week. The data were analyzed after obtaining the stable change index and by calculating the statistically significant change and the recovery percentage formula, and were presented with the standard method of visual drawing. The percentage of improvement in dyadic satisfaction (41/9), dyadic consensus (46/65), dyadic cohesion (51/76) and affectional expression (127/41) was effective. The most effectiveness has been in the compliance type. A greater increase has been observed in the detachment type compared to the aggression type. These findings showed significant changes in the components of marital adjustment based on Horney's personality types. Therefore, Horney's analytical psychotherapy can be useful for psychologists and couple therapists in preventing divorce by increasing the marital adjustment.