The Effect of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on Marital Conflict and Marital Adjustment in Addicts

The current research aimed to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy in marital conflict and marital adjustment among addicts. The population of this study consisted of 100 addicts in Drug Treatment Methadone Therapy Center (Nikoosalamat) in Ghorveh city in 2013. This study employed a quasi-experimental research design with pre-test and post-test. A sample size of 30 married addicts was selected via convenience sampling method. Then, they were randomly assigned to two experimental and control groups. The experimental group received 13 behavioral-cognitive psychotherapy sessions according to Michael Frey's instructions (2005), while the control group received no intervention. For data collection, Spanier's 32-item Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) and Marital Conflict Questionnaire (MCQ) were administered.
The results showed that the mean score of marital adjustment post-test in the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group. In addition, the mean score of marital conflict post-test in the experimental group was found to be significantly lower than that of the control group.
Cognitive behavioral therapy appears to be effective in promoting marital adjustment and reducing marital conflict among addicts.