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RELATING PROCESS TO OUTCOME IN MARITAL THERAPY
Author(s) -
Johnson Susan M.,
Greenberg L. S.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of marital and family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.868
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1752-0606
pISSN - 0194-472X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-0606.1988.tb00733.x
Subject(s) - marital therapy , outcome (game theory) , psychology , interpersonal communication , psychotherapist , interpersonal relationship , clinical psychology , family therapy , interpersonal psychotherapy , social psychology , medicine , randomized controlled trial , mathematics , surgery , mathematical economics
Although there are a growing number of outcome research studies in marital therapy, there is a complete absence of research on change processes, and how such processes relate to outcome. This study attempts to analyze the process of change in the “best” sessions of Emotionally Focused Marital Therapy (EFT) (Greenberg & Johnson, 1986). Client performance in therapy was rated on depth of experiencing and the quality of interpersonal interactions. The occurrence of particular change events arising from the theoretical principles of EFT was also noted. Results confirmed hypotheses that higher levels of experiencing and more autonomous and affiliative interactions characterized “best” sessions of couples who were successful in therapy. The implications for treatment are discussed.