Comparing the Effectiveness of Solution-Focused Therapy and Emotion-Focused Therapy on Emotional Regulation in Women Who Have Been Betrayed

Abstract

Introduction and Aim: Women who have been betrayed by extramarital affairs face problems and difficulties in emotional regulation. Therefore, the aim of the present research was comparing the effectiveness of solution-focused therapy and emotion-focused therapy on emotional regulation in women who have been betrayed.

Methodology: This study was a quasi-experimental with a pre-test, post-test, and follow-up design with a control group. The current research population consisted of women who had been betrayed on by their husbands and referred to counseling centers in Qaemshahr city in 2023 year, which 45 people of them were selected using available sampling method and randomly with lottery assigned to three groups of 15 people. The first experimental group received 8 sessions of 120 minute of Solution-Focused Therapy based on the Seifollahi Nasrabadi et al (2019) protocol, and the second experimental group received 10 sessions of 90 minute of Emotion-Focused Therapy based on the Greenberg & Johnson (1988) protocol, and the control group remained on the waiting list for training. Data were collected using the Infidelity Questionnaire (Yeniceri and Kokdemir, 2006) and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Gross and John, 2003) and analyzed using repeated-measures analysis of variance and Bonferroni post hoc test in SPSS-22 software.

Findings: The results of this study showed that both solution-focused therapy and emotion-focused therapy in compared to the control group increased emotional regulation in women who have been betrayed (P<0.001). Also, the effectiveness of solution-focused therapy in compared to emotion-focused therapy was greater in increasing emotional regulation in women who have been betrayed (P<0.001).

Conclusion: According to the results of the present research, counselors and therapists can use solution-focused therapy along with other therapeutic methods to improve emotion regulation in vulnerable groups, especially women who have been betrayed.