Document Type : Original Article

Authors

• Asghar Jafari ¹
• Ali Moshtaghi ²

¹ Department of Psychology Faculty of Humanities University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran

² Electronic campus, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Marriage affects the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral health of young couples. Interpersonal trust and cognitive flexibility play a role in family functioning. The purpose of the present study was to determine the effectiveness of imago therapy in increasing interpersonal trust and cognitive flexibility in young couples. A quasi-experimental design was used. The statistical population included young couples who referred to Salam Counseling and Psychology Center in Esfahan in 2022. Through purposive sampling method, 16 couples who met the inclusion criteria were selected; they were randomly assigned to the two groups of imago therapy and control (n1=n2=8). Research instruments were Rempel and Holmes’s (2007) Interpersonal Relationship Trust questionnaire and Dennis and Vanderwal’s (2010) Cognitive Flexibility questionnaire, which were administered to the two groups in three stages. In addition, Muro et al.’s (2016) Imago Therapy program was implemented in the experimental group during ten weekly 60-minute sessions. Data were analyzed using mixed model repeated measures ANOVA. Findings showed that imago therapy could increase interpersonal trust and cognitive flexibility in young couples and this effect was sustained in the follow-up phase (P < 0.001). Therefore, it could be concluded that imago therapy was effective in increasing interpersonal trust and cognitive flexibility in young couples. Accordingly, it is suggested that this treatment package be used for the recovery of interpersonal trust and cognitive flexibility of couples.

Keywords

• Imago therapy
• Interpersonal trust
• Cognitive flexibility
• Young couples