The Effectiveness of Therapy Based on Acceptance and Realistic Commitment on Emotional Regulation and Happiness of Couples

Marriage has always been emphasized as the most important and the highest social custom to meet people's emotional needs. The main reasons for marriage are having love and affection for a partner and companion in life, satisfying emotional-psychological needs and increasing happiness and contentment. Therefore, the aim of the current research was to investigate the effectiveness of therapy based on realistic acceptance and commitment on couples' happiness and emotion regulation. In terms of purpose, the current research was of an applied type, and in terms of method, based on the research design and method, it was quasi-experimental with a pre-test and post-test design (with an experimental group and a control group and a three-month follow-up period). The statistical population used in the current study included all couples who referred to family counseling and couple therapy centers in the 2nd district of Tehran in 1401. Among these people, 40 people (20 couples) were selected using the purposeful sampling method and randomly assigned to an experimental group (20 people or 10 couples) and a control group (20 people or 10 couples). Then, a treatment package based on acceptance and realistic commitment was implemented on the experimental group based on the protocol of Afshari et al (2022). The research tools included the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire and the Gross & John (2003) Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. In order to statistically analyze the data, variance analysis with repeated measurements and LSD post hoc test and SPSS software version 26 were used. F value and significance level were calculated in the variable of emotion regulation (F = 6.17 and P = 0.002) and happiness (F = 5.81 and P = 0.003). It can be concluded that the independent variable (treatment based on realistic acceptance and commitment) has significantly changed the dependent variables (regulation of emotion and happiness). Therefore, it can be concluded that the changes made in the dependent variables were due to the implementation of the treatment based on acceptance and realistic commitment on the experimental group. The results of the LSD post hoc test showed that these effects were stable. Based on the available findings, it can be concluded that the therapy based on realistic acceptance and commitment was effective in regulating the emotions and happiness of couples. Therefore, it is suggested that experts benefit from the techniques of this approach in their work.