Comparing the effectiveness of Gottman couple therapy and Emotion Focused Couple Therapy on attachment behavior in couples with emotional divorce

Subject Areas : Psychology

Soha Sadat ¹ , davood taghvaei ² , Mohammad Mehdi Jahangiri ³

1 - 1. Department of Psychology, Ar.C, Islamic Azad University, Arak, Iran.
2 - Department of Psychology, Ar.C, Islamic Azad University, Arak, Iran
3 - Department of Psychology, Ar.C, Islamic Azad University, Arak, Iran.

Received: 2025-05-19 Accepted : 2025-07-22 Published : 2025-07-19

Keywords: attachment behavior, Couple therapy, Gottman, emotional divorce, emotion-focused,

Abstract :

This study aimed to Comparing the effectiveness of Gottman couple therapy and Emotion Focused Couple Therapy on attachment behavior in couples with emotional divorce. The research method was a semi-experimental pre-test-post-test with two experimental groups, a control group, and a three-month follow-up period. The statistical population included all couples referring to counseling and psychological services centers in Tehran with a diagnosis of emotional divorce. The research sample consisted of 30 couples (60 people) who were selected through a convenient method and based on entry criteria and assigned to experimental and control groups (20 people in each group). The first experimental group received 10 sessions of Gottman couple therapy. The second experimental group received 8 sessions of emotion-focused couple therapy. The Brief Accessibility, Responsiveness and Engagement (Sandberg et al., 2012) was used to collect data. Data analysis was performed using repeated measures analysis of variance using SPSS₂₆ software. The results showed that both Gottman couple therapy and Emotion Focused Couple Therapy significantly improved attachment behavior in couples with emotional divorce at the post-test and follow-up stages. It was also determined that there was no statistically significant difference between the effectiveness of the two therapeutic approaches on attachment behavior. These results persisted during the three-month follow-up period. Overall, the results of the present study focus on Gottman couple therapy and Emotion Focused Couple Therapy as a strategy and promising point for improving attachment behavior in couples with emotional divorce.

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