Efficacy of schema therapeutic Imagination in couples counseling

Not Applicable

• Conditions: general partnership problems

• Registration Number: DRKS00008891
• Lead Sponsor: Institut für Verhaltenstherapie-Ausbildung Hamburg

Brief Summary

Schema therapy has shown good effectiveness in individual and group settings. Experiential techniques, in particular, seem to contribute to those effects. In a randomized controlled trial with 12 couples, we compared the effects of couple imagery rescripting exercises and a cognitive intervention based on the schema therapy model in a crossover design. We measured the couples’ sense of closeness, using daily VAS-scales, and on mood (BDI-II). Imagery rescripting showed significantly stronger effects on the felt closeness and mood of both partners than schema model-based cognitive therapy techniques.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2016-02-04
• Study Completion: 2017-04-01
• Results First Posted: 2018-12-31
• Last Update Posted: 19 August 2024

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: Complete
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 24

Inclusion Criteria

1. heterosexual partnerships with difficult couple dynamics ( we often quarrel ... )
2. living together in an apartment since min. 1 year .
3. Sufficient German language.

Exclusion Criteria

1. Acute partnership crisis eg due to a recently discovered Affaire, loss experience, etc.)
2. psychotic crisis or psychotic disease or related pre-existing conditions and bipolar disease or related pre-existing conditions in the previous year.
3. Life-threatening or serious somatic diseases.

Study & Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Primary outcome is the qualitity of partnership: it is measured by 2 visual analogue scales, which the participants have to fill out daily between the 1st and 6th session (for a period of 12-20 weeks). One scale refers to the question How close do I feel to my partner today? which range from very close to not at all. The other scale refers to the question How well do we understand each other today? which range from very well to not at all. The participants have to mark a point on a 10 cm scale within the poles.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
At the beginning of each session the paricipants fill in the Partnerschaftsfragebogen (marital quality questionnaire), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Questionaire to capture the course of therapy (FPV-26).