Investigating the Impacts and Continuity of Effects of Group-Based Reality Therapy on Marital Adjustment, Emotion Differentiation, and Intimacy in Couples with Emotional Divorce

Emotional divorce is one of the most common phenomena in Iran. The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of Glasser reality therapy in a group manner on marital adjustment, emotional differentiation and intimacy in couples with emotional divorce. The research method was a semi-experimental one-group type with a time series design. From the statistical population, married couples with emotional divorce who had referred to Andisheh and Allameh Amini Centers for counseling, 16 couples (8 couples) were included in the sample group in a targeted way. The participants completed 8 sessions of couple therapy based on reality therapy in a group manner (two sessions per week), each session lasting 1.5 hours. Before the intervention, after the end and one month after the end of the intervention, the participants answered the questions of the Marital Compatibility Questionnaire, the Couple Differentiation Scale, and the Marital Intimacy Scale. The obtained data were analyzed by the repeated measures ANOVA. The results of the research showed that the intervention of Glasser reality therapy in a group manner increases marital compatibility and intimacy of couples in couples with emotional divorce. Also, the results showed that this increase continues in the follow-up phase. The results of this research didn't confirm the effectiveness of Glasser reality therapy in a group manner intervention on the emotional differentiation of couples with emotional divorce