J Korean Neuropsychiatr Assoc.  2010 Jan;49(1):82-89.

The Effects of Emotionally Focused Therapy(EFT) for Couples : Pilot Study

• Park SD
• Lee WK
• Jang HR

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
This study investigated the effects of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) on distressed married couples.
METHODS
We conducted 5 to 19 EFT sessions once a week with 10 couples from Yongin Mental Hospital who were experiencing marital conflict. We assessed participants before and after EFT, using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Symptom Checklist 90-R (SCL-90R), and Korean Marital Satisfaction Inventory (K-MSI). The EFT consisted of 3 stages comprising 9 steps. Every couple followed this EFT structure.
RESULTS
After completing the EFT sessions, the inventories showed the couples experiencing significant improvements in various psychological symptoms and marital satisfactions.
CONCLUSION
These results indicate that EFT could be applied to distressed couples in a clinical setting and could effectively reduce psychological symptoms and improve marital satisfaction. Further study of the generalizability of these results and of the process variables are needed.

Keyword

Distressed couple; Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy; Process variables

MeSH Terms

Checklist
Depression
Equipment and Supplies
Family Characteristics
Family Conflict
Hospitals, Psychiatric
Pilot Projects