Journal of Counseling Research

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Purpose: This research was conducted to examine the efficacy of the integrative couple therapy and emotionally focused on increasing marital intimacy injured by wife infidelity (male).

Method: The research method was Semi experimental (pre-test, post-test, and follow-up) using two experimental groups and one control group. The study population included all couples involved with the issue of marital infidelity (male) referred to one of three regional counseling centers in Isfahan in 1394. To investigate research assumptions, 24 couples were selected through available sampling, and placed randomly in the Integrative Couple Therapy (8 couples), Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (8 couples) and control group (8couples). For data collection, Marital Intimacy Questionnaire by Olia, Fatehizadeh and Bahrami (2006) was applied. Two experimental groups participated in 8 session's couple therapy, the control groups was not exposed to any intervention. Data were analyzed by analysis of variance with repeated measures.

Results: The results showed that between couples of each experimental groups and control group in marital intimacy and its dimensions (emotional, intellectual, physical, social- recreation, contact, spiritual, psychological, sexual, general) there are significant differences (P≤0/05). The results also showed that two approaches, both on the post-test and on the follow up test, are almost identical in increasing general marital intimacy (P<0/05). While, emotionally focused couple therapy, both on the post-test and on the follow up test, is more effective than integrative couple therapy on increasing  marital intimacy in dimensions of emotional, intellectual, contact, spiritual and  sexual.

Conclusion: The results indicated that integrative couple therapy and emotionally focused couple therapy can reduce communication problems caused by betrayed wife. 

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Purpose: The quality of sexual relationship and marital intimacy are important topics of post-marriage experience. Similarly, religiosity is commonly considered as an influential framework for life. Past research has not been able to accurately discover or illustrate the opinions of experts in the area of couples counseling about the relationship between these dimensions. Therefore, this research was conducted to examine the marriage and family experts’ points of view about the role of religiosity in sexual satisfaction and marital intimacy of couples. Methods: Qualitative approach of phenomenological type was used.  For this, ten individuals who were counselors or psychologist with active working experience with couples were interviewed according to qualitative protocols. Data collected from interviews were then analyzed using features available in Microsoft Word software. Results: In the open-coding, 147 initial codes were produced, while the axial-coding based on thematic similarities yielded 24 categorical codes. One of the main questions asked of the participants was “what role can religiosity play in the quality of couple’s relationship?” Overall, according to the analysis of the responses obtained, religiosity plays a positive role in sexual satisfaction and marital intimacy of couples. However, some of the participants mentioned a few points as reservations to be considered which are covered in the current article. Conclusion: Counselors’ and psychotherapists’ perceptions about role and relation between variables of religiosity, sexual satisfaction, and marital intimacy are important. Of the main findings of the present study was interviewees’ describing the prerequisite or complementary context for capitalizing on positive effects of religiosity in sexual satisfaction and marital intimacy. situation was that the interviewees as it is a prerequisite for receiving a positive impact or supplement and religiosity on the significant sex and marital intimacy.

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Aim: Intimacy among couples is an important factor in sustainable marriages. If couples' intimacy fades, it will affect their tendency toward extramarital relations. Individuals' style of attachment form during childhood and exert a notable influence on the formation of their marital intimacy during adulthood. Therefore, the goal of the present research was to study the mediating role of marital intimacy in relation between attachment styles and attitude of  Methods: This research is a descriptive-analytic study of correlational type. The statistical population is comprised of all married men and women of Tehran in the Iranian year of 1396. The study's sample was chosen from the population using the convenient sampling method. Data collection tools included Mark Whatley (2006) Q Attitude Toward Transnational Relationships Questionnaire, Collins & Read (1990) Attachment Style Questionnaire, and Thompson and Walker (2002) Marital Intimacy Questionnaire. The total population size of the sample was 650 couples, consisting of 357 women and 293 men.   Data analysis was done using the path analysis method and the AMOS statistical software from SPSS company. Results: Analyzing the correlation coefficients and their standardized values, in addition to the related t-test values, indicated that the direct effect of the anxiety-driven attachment style on marital intimacy is meaningful (P≤0/05). Furthermore, the indirect effect of marital intimacy on tendency toward infidelity is meaningful (P≤0/05). Conclusion: Since marriage and choosing a partner is one of the most important decisions in life, considering the predicting role of unsafe attachment style and the role of marital intimacy in individuals' tendency toward infidelity, the necessity of analyzing these two variables as it applies to premarital counseling and parental training about child education and attachment styles, must be emphasized.

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The aim of the present study was to compare and evaluate the effectiveness of Contextual Therapy fair-centered (CT) (based on Ivan Böszörményi-Nagy) and Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) on increasing Marital Intimacy and reducing Marital Burnout in couples. The method was semi-experimental with a pretest-posttest design with a control group. The statistical population included all couples who in 2017-2018 referred to the Sanam private office of counseling and psychological services (under the supervision of the Psychology and Counseling Organization of Iran) in the city of Urmia. Among them, 24 couples who have referred to this center due to marital conflicts, after matching the subjects and the criteria for entering and leaving the research, were purposefully selected and randomly assigned to three groups (Eight pairs in each group), which are two experimental groups and one control group. After performing the pretest, the Contextual Therapy group were performed 10 sessions and Emotion-Focused Therapy was 9 for each pair. The questionnaires used included Walker and Thompson's intimacy scale and Pines 's Burnout Scale. To analyze the data and hypotheses, the statistical test method of “repeated measurement variance analysis” and SPSS software were used. Findings showed that the effectiveness of Emotion-Focused Therapy in increasing intimacy was significantly (p < 0.001) than the Contextual. But there is no significant difference between the two approaches in reducing “marital boredom”, Also, the findings showed that, over time, the effectiveness of the Contextual Therapy approach to the Emotion-Focused Therapy in “marital burnout” is more stable. Conclusion: In comparison Emotion-Focused Therapy a more effective effect in increasing intimacy and the effectiveness of the two approaches in reducing marital burnout is the same,but in the long run, the Contextual approach has shown better therapeutic stability in improving Marital burnout.

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Aim: The purpose of this study was to compare the dimensions of intimacy, commitment, and marital satisfaction in couples with and without pre-marrital counseling. Methods: The present study is a causal-comparative study, and the statistical population includes two groups of married people in Tehran between 2018-2019, one of which had experienced premarital counseling while the other group did not have this experience. The sample consisted of two groups of married people using available and convenient sampling method which consisted of total of 60 couples. Three questionnaires of intimacy, commitment and marital satisfaction were applied. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics indices and the mixed variance analysis method using SPSS software. Results: Findings showed that there was a significant difference between the two groups regarding the dimensions of marital intimacy in the dimension of psychological intimacy. And comparing the dimensions of marital commitment in the two groups showed that there is a significant difference in the dimension of personal commitment. Comparison of the dimensions of marital satisfaction showed that the counseling group in the dimension of children and parenting was significantly higher than in the counseling group. Conclusion: Therefore, it seems that pre-marital counseling programs need training and interventions in order to promote intimacy, commitment, and marital satisfaction.