A Study On the Effectiveness of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy and Integrated Systemic Couple Therapy on reducing Intimacy Anxiety

This study examined the effectiveness of emotionally focused couple therapy (EFT) and integrated systemic couple therapy (IST) on resolving intimacy anxiety. For this purpose, 30 couples were randomly selected and based on their pretests were assigned into two experimental and one control groups. Research instruments were Fear of Intimacy Scale (FIS) (Descutner & Thelen), and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) (Spanier, 1976). A Nine-session of EFT was conducted for one experiment group and eight sessions of IST for the other. The control group did not receive any treatment. These three groups completed post test at the end of the experiment, and follow-up test 3 months later. Results indicated that EFT and IST significantly decreased intimacy anxiety in couples, and the treatment effect was consistent after 3 months follow-up.