Effects of Cognitive-Existential Therapy on Individual-Social Adjustment and Resilience in Women Exposed to Divorce

Divorce adversely affects women's mental health. Divorce disrupts the family system; some stressors associated with it lead to changes in individuals' personal and social structure (directly or indirectly). On the one hand, increased rates of divorce and marital dissatisfaction, and spouses' demand for fertility and improved marital relationships, on the other hand, indicate the need for spouses to receive specialized interventions and training. Accordingly, we intended to explore novel and effective patterns of cognitive–existential therapy for treating divorced women. This treatment is systematic and psychosocial based on the approach and background; thus, it focuses on marital relationships and is more related to personal, social, and resilience resulting from marital relationships. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the effects of cognitive–existential therapy on socio–individual adjustment and resilience in women at risk of divorce.

This was a quasi–experimental study with pretest–posttest and a control group design. The convenience sampling method selected all women at risk of divorce in districts 5 and 6 of Tehran, City, Iran (N=30). They were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. Research instruments were demographic and social adjustment questionnaire (Clark et al., 1953) and resiliency questionnaire (Connor and Davidson, 2003). After the pretest phase, the experimental group administered the cognitive–existential treatment. Finally, both study groups received posttest. The study findings were analyzed by SPSS using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) at the significant level of 0.05.

The present study results suggested that after eliminating the pretest effect, there was a significant difference between the study groups in the mean socio–adaptation and resiliency scores (p<0.001).

The current research data indicated that cognitive–existential therapy helps to facilitate healthy communication in families with conflict and leads to better marital satisfaction in couples, even if individuals have marital conflicts. Thus, the current treatment seems to be a promising strategy for couples in the process of separation and divorce. Psychotherapists and specialists need to be given treatment sessions according to the specific needs of couples and the extent of their problems. This helps couples become involved and improve their problems during treatment. Both individual and group therapy sessions can be tailored to the needs and desires of the couple. This treatment allows couples to solve their personal and private issues. In addition, cognitive–existential therapy uses a theoretical cognitive framework; thus, it can reduce other psychological problems.