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Worried About us: Evaluating an Intervention for Relationship‐Based Anxiety
Author(s) -
Paprocki Christine M.,
Baucom Donald H.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
family process
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.011
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1545-5300
pISSN - 0014-7370
DOI - 10.1111/famp.12175
Subject(s) - anxiety , psychology , accommodation , intervention (counseling) , clinical psychology , session (web analytics) , pleasure , construct (python library) , developmental psychology , psychotherapist , psychiatry , neuroscience , world wide web , computer science , programming language
Although romantic relationships are commonly a source of pleasure and comfort, for some individuals they can be a source of persistent anxiety. The aim of the current investigation was to explore the construct of relationship‐based anxiety and to evaluate the effectiveness of a brief couple‐based psychoeducational session for this issue. Common behavioral patterns and cognitive tendencies seen among individuals with relationship‐based anxiety were examined, including excessive reassurance‐seeking, self‐silencing, and partner accommodation. In the current investigation, a single psychoeducational session was developed to address these maladaptive interactive patterns of behavior specifically. The session was administered to a sample of 21 couples and was found to decrease levels of reassurance‐seeking and self‐silencing significantly among individuals with relationship anxiety, and to decrease levels of maladaptive accommodation behaviors significantly in their partners.