Comparing the Effectiveness of Emotion-Focused Couple Therapy and Psychodynamic Family Therapy on the Cognitive Flexibility of Conflicted Women Referring to Counseling Centers in Tehran
Keywords:
cognitive flexibility and conflicted women, emotion-oriented couple therapy, family therapy with psychodynamic approach,Abstract
Objective: This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of emotion-focused couple therapy and psychodynamic family therapy on the cognitive flexibility of conflicted women.
Methodology: This quasi-experimental study employed a pretest–posttest design with a control group. Forty-five conflicted women referred to counseling centers in Tehran in 2023 were selected through convenience sampling and randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group. The Cognitive Flexibility Inventory and the Marital Conflict Questionnaire were used. Both interventions were delivered in ten weekly sessions. Data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA and post hoc tests.
Findings: Both interventions produced significant improvements in cognitive flexibility and its dimensions (p<0.001, η²=0.812). No statistically significant difference was found between the two treatment approaches (p>0.05), while both experimental groups significantly outperformed the control group.
Conclusion: Emotion-focused couple therapy and psychodynamic family therapy are both effective interventions for enhancing cognitive flexibility among conflicted women and can be confidently recommended for clinical practice in counseling settings.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Shahin Mirzaee SheykhiAbadi, Fatemeh Sadat Tabatabaeinejad, Mohammad Zare Neyestanak, Seyed Mostafa Banitaba (Author)
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