Cognitive-Behavioral Approach in Marital Therapy

Abstract

Marital relationship is considered as a positive and life-enriching factor. Nevertheless, there exist disagreements and conflicts in marriage, which could also be serious stressors that affect the lives of the individuals. Effective solutions for prevailing problems ensure the functional continuity of the family. Cognitive-behavioral therapies developed to resolve marital problems were commonly intended to modify the unrealistic expectations, problematic cognitions and behaviors of the spouses and to improve their interaction, using direct skill-based methods such as problem-solving and communication skills. Certain objectives of cognitive-behavioral marital therapy, which focus on the feelings, behaviors, and cognitions of spouses, include decreasing problematic behavioral interactions and increasing mutual emotional support between the spouses. In recent years, cognitive-behavioral marital therapy was adapted to address a wide range of individual, psychological, and medical problems. Cognitive-behavioral marital therapy studies based on marital conflict and individual psychopathologies are expected to be effective both for relationship compliance and for the improvement of psychopathological symptoms of the spouses.

Keywords

• marital therapy
• cognitive behavioral therapy