The Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on Marital Intimacy and Identification of the Basic Psychological Needs Among Couples Referring to Counseling Centers

Background: If the couples do not acquire communication skills and conflict solution, the conflicts will continue verbally and then behaviorally. Thus, the gradual destruction in the marital intimacy will begin. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy on couple's intimacy and identification of basic psychological needs in couples referring to counseling centers. Materials and Methods: This is a quasi-experimental study with pre-test, post-test design and control group. The statistical population of the study consisted of all couples referring to counseling centers of Ahvaz city, Iran in the year 2018-2019. The sample size trough convenience sampling was 40 couples that were randomly selected and assigned to the experimental and control groups (n=20 in each group). In order to collect information, Thompson and Walker's (1983) Marital Intimacy Scale and Glaser basic Need Questionnaire were used. The experimental group underwent cognitivebehavioral psychotherapy (8 sessions 90 minutes), but the control group received no intervention. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (repeated measure ANOVA). Results: The results showed that cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy was effective in increasing marital intimacy and identifying the basic needs of couples (p <0.05). Conclusion: Based on the results, cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy was effective in improving the intimacy and identification of basic needs in couples of couples referring to counseling centers.