The effectiveness of Emotional Focused Couple Therapy on fear of intimacy and experiential avoidance couples with a stonewalling communication style in covid-19 pandemic

Experiential avoidance and fear of intimacy are the characteristics of couples with a stonewalling communication style that poses a serious risk to the stability of life.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of EFCT on experiential avoidance and fear of intimacy of couples in Tehran with a stonewalling communication style in 1400 during the epidemic of Covid-19 pandemic.

The present research is a quasi-experimental design with pre-test, post-test, follow-up and control group. The statistical population of this research was the stonewalling couples in Tehran in 1400 who responded positively to the invitation for cooperation in the present research in virtual networks. A total of 40 individuals (20 pairs) were selected by convenience sampling and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Participants in the experimental and control groups responded to the Multidimensional Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire(MEAQ) and Fear of Intimacy Scale(FIS) in three stages of pre-test, post-test and follow-up. Then, Emotional Focused Group Couple Therapy(EFGCT) was performed only for the experimental group in 10 online group sessions. Data were analyzed using ANOVA with repeated measure.

The results showed that emotion-oriented couple therapy reduced the fear of intimacy and experimental avoidance and their components in couples with stone wall communication style (P <0.01).

Based on the results, attention to this approach in treatment programs and counseling as an effective method to reduce fear of intimacy and experimental avoidance of couples in Tehran with a stone wall communication style can be useful.