Journal of Counseling Research

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Divorce and separation demolish family as a basic unit of a society. This research aim was the survey of Confidence and Intimacy in Predicting of Marital Instability. This is a descriptive-correlation research. 90 male and 90 female were randomly selected. The Instruments were Walker Intimacy Scale, Confidence Scale and Marital Instability Questionnaires. Pearson Correlation method and step by step multiple regressions were used for analyzing the data. The results showed negative significant correlations between confidence and marital instability. This means that as confidence increased, marital instability decreased and vice versa. Also, there was negative significant correlations between intimacy and marital instability. This means that as Intimacy improved, marital instability decreased and vice versa. Therefore , This article showed that Confidence and intimacy are important factors to predict stability and instability in a marriage. .

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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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Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of emotion-focused counseling model based on Islamic teachings on the level of intimacy in incompatible couples. Methods: In the first stage, the research methodology was used in a qualitative way to extract the Islamic themes about emotion regulation and assess its content validity through a survey of experts in the field. For the second stage, the experimental research method  was conducted in the framework of a pseudo-experimental design, utilizing a pre-test and post-test type, with a control group. The statistical population was selected from among 30 volunteers who had been selected from all married clients experiencing marital conflicts and referring to Yara counseling center in city of Saveh in the second half of the year 2017. They were randomly assigned to two experimental and control groups. The toolds for gathering information included Thompson & Walker's Intimacy Scale (1983) and the Bagarozzi Marital Intimacy Needs (MINQ) Questionnaire. The program was run for 10 sessions of 90-minute group counseling for the experimental group, and the control group did not receive any training. Multivariate covariance analysis was used for data analysis. Findings: The research results indicated that the designed model had an appropriate validity (CVR =0.7125) and significantly increased the marital intimacy and its dimensions: emotional intimacy, psychological, intellectual, spiritual, aesthetic, and social-recreational, but it has no significant effect on the two dimensions, sexual and physical. Conclusions: It can be concluded that an emotion-focused counseling based on Islamic teachings model can help inconsistent couples gain more emotional control and more intimacy as an effective way.

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Aim: The goal for this research was to assess the effectiveness of the two approaches in couples therapy, one being based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and the other being Imago therapy (IRT), on couple’s sexual intimacy. Methods: Quasi-experimental method with pre and post-test and control group were used. Total of 45 couples from among those who used counseling centers in city of Kermanshah during the year 2019 participated voluntarily in this research. They were randomly assigned to three 15-couple groups of ACT, Imago Therapy, and control. Eight 90-minute sessions were conducted using ACT with one group and Imago Therapy with another group. Data was collected using sexual intimacy questionnaire that was adapted from Enrich scale. Findings: Covariance analysis showed (p>0.05) couples therapy based on ACT and Imago Therapy techniques were effective in improving sexual intimacy in couples. These findings showed utilizing techniques in ACT-based couples therapy, cause psychological acceptance about mental experiences and decrease ineffective controlling behaviors.

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Aim: Intimacy is a basic human need and one of the principals of marital life. This study aimed to investigate the factors enhancing couple’s intimacy. This research was conducted qualitatively, based on grounded theory. Methods: The population included all married individuals from Shiraz who were married for at least one year. Ten of them were interviewed using semi-structured questions until data saturation was reached. The main question of the research was "In what ways couples may enhance their intimacy?". Findings: According to the findings, the main categories were: constructive criticism, constructive and non-judgmental conversation, conversational skills, support and reliability, mutual respect, fun, interpersonal character, harmony in different aspects, relationship with surrounding systems, boundary, growth and development, respect for desires and interests, mutual understanding, acceptance, task allocation, caring to mutual needs, knowing each other and individualization, and core categories were: effective communication and understanding of differences. Conclusion: In the present study, two categories of factors are effective in promoting the intimacy of couples. These factors include both intra-family and extra-family concepts. Accordingly, it is suggested that improving effective communication skills as well as comprehension and acceptance skills in couples, promote their 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.

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Abstract
Aim: The present study was conducted with the aim of comparing the effectiveness of integrative couple therapy and integrative behavioral couple therapy on increasing the emotional and sexual intimacy of couples affected by infidelity in Shahriar (Andishe city in Iran). Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design and a control group. The statistical population included couples whose male partner had cheated, and were referred to counseling centers of Andishe city in 2018. Twenty four couples were selected through convenient sampling and randomly assigned into two experimental groups and one control group (8 couples in each group). The subjects in the two experimental groups attended 10 couple therapy sessions, whereas no intervention was carried out for the control group. The subjects responed to the Marital Intimacy Needs Questionnaire (Bagarozzi, 2001). Results: The results of analysis of covariance and block analysis of variance showed that integrative behavioral couple therapy and integrative couple therapy had a significant effect on the component of satisfaction with confrontation in the dimension of sexual intimacy )p<0.05), but no significant difference was observed between the two approaches. Integrative behavioral couple therapy was also effective in increasing emotional intimacy in all components, but this effectiveness was not achieved in integrative couple therapy. Conclusion: Considering the effectiveness of integrative couple therapy and integrative behavioral couple therapy on the component of satisfaction with confrontation in sexual intimacy, the use of these approaches in promoting sexual intimacy of couples affected by infidelity may be effective. Also, considering the effectiveness of integrative behavioral couple therapy in increasing emotional and sexual intimacy, this approach can be used by couple therapists.
 

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Aim: The purpose of this study was to predict being abused in close relationship based on communicational patterns and fear of intimacy in married women. The method of this research is descriptive-correlational. Methods: This study was a correlation study, in which 300 married women in Tehran were selected through convenience sampling and they completed the Communication Patterns Questionnaire – short form (CPQ- SF) (Christense & Heavy, 1990), Fear of intimacy scale (Descatner & Thelen, 1991), and the Spouse abuse questionnaire (Gahary, Atefvahid & Yoosefy, 2006). The data was analyzed using Pearson correlation and regression. Findings: Study showed that there was a significant positive relation between female demands, male withdrawal, and being abused (r=%236; P≤000). Also there was a significant positive relation between male demanding, female withdraws (r=%324; P≤0/01), female demand, male withdraw (r=%131; P≤0/05), positive interaction pattern (r=%214; P≤0/01), withdraw with fear of intimacy. Positive interaction pattern (r=%194; P≤0/001) and female demand, male withdraw pattern (r=%236; P≤000) predicted being abused. Findings: As a result, it can be said that the communication pattern of female demand, male withdraw and positive interaction pattern of a couple's relationship can create a challenge that causes spousal abuse.
 

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Aim: Marital infidelity, which is known as one of the social problems, can cause the collapse of the family or even cause a crime. This study was conducted with the aim of investigating the mediating role of marital intimacy in the relationship between midlife crisis and the tendency to Infidelity in middle-aged men. Methods: This research was of correlation type with structural equation modeling method. The statistical population of this research consisted of all men aged 40 to 60 in Razavi Khorasan province. The research sample was selected from the current population using available sampling method, the tools included: The questionnaire was marital intimacy (Walker and Thompson, 1983), mid-life identity crisis (Rajaei et al., 2017) and tendency to infidelity (Bashirpour et al., 2017). The sample size of this research included 200 men. Data analysis was done using structural equation method and SPSS and AMOS software. Findings: The results of the analysis indicated a direct and significant relationship between the midlife crisis and the tendency to commit marital infidelity. Also, there was an indirect relationship between midlife crisis and the tendency to commit marital infidelity, due to marital intimacy. Marital intimacy also had an inverse and significant relationship with the independent variable of midlife crisis. And finally, there was an inverse and significant relationship between the desire for marital infidelity and marital intimacy. Therefore, the assumed model has a good fit. Conclusion: Considering the predictive role of midlife crisis and the role of marital intimacy in people's tendency to commit marital infidelity, Specialists should emphasize the need to provide appropriate training to couples who are exposed to these injuries.