The Effectiveness of Emotion Focused Therapy on Pessimistic Marital Expectation and Self-Criticism in Neurotic Perfectionist Girls

The aim of the current study was to investigate the effectiveness of Emotion Focused Therapy on Pessimistic Marital Expectation and Self-Criticism in Neurotic Perfectionist girls. The statistical population consisted of all Neurotic Perfectionist girls in Ahvaz. The research sample consisted of 5 girls that were selected according to the results of the neurotic perfectionism questionnaires (NPQ), using purposeful sampling method. In this research, a single-case experimental design, type of concurrent multiple baseline designs was used. To evaluate the Pessimistic Marital Expectation, Marital Expectation Scale and Self-Criticism, The Levels of Self-Criticism Scale were used. The data was collected in three phases of baseline, during intervention, and three month follow-up. The findings indicate that the subjects in the treatment phase experienced improvement in Pessimistic Marital Expectation (18.75) and Self-Criticism (21.98), and in the follow-up in regards to Pessimistic Marital Expectation (23.91) and Self-Criticism (49.66). The change index was indicative of meaningful changes (z=1.96 α=0.05). Therefore, the research findings illustrated that Emotion Focused Therapy reduces Pessimistic Marital Expectation and Self-Criticism in Neurotic Perfectionist girls.