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The Impact of Blamer‐softening on Romantic Attachment in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy
Author(s) -
Burgess Moser Melissa,
Johnson Susan M.,
Dalgleish Tracy L.,
Wiebe Stephanie A.,
Tasca Giorgio A.
Publication year - 2018
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/jmft.12284
Subject(s) - softening , psychology , distress , anxiety , attachment theory , clinical psychology , multilevel model , psychotherapist , developmental psychology , materials science , psychiatry , composite material , machine learning , computer science
Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy ( EFT ; Johnson, [Johnson, S., 2004]) treats relationship distress by targeting couples' relationship‐specific attachment insecurity. In this study, we used hierarchical linear modeling (Singer & Willett, [Singer, J. D., 2003]) to examine intercept and slope discontinuities in softened couples' trajectories of change in relationship satisfaction and relationship‐specific attachment over the course of therapy from a total sample of 32 couples. Softened couples ( n = 16) reported a significant increase in relationship satisfaction and a significant decrease in attachment avoidance at the softening session. Although softened couples displayed an initial increase in relationship‐specific attachment anxiety at the softening session, their scores significantly decreased across post‐softening sessions. Results demonstrated the importance of the blamer‐softening change event in facilitating change in EFT .