1988/04/01 by Susan M. Johnson, Leslie S. Greenberg · 4 citations
Psychology · Medicine · #Attachment and Relationship Dynamics #Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications #Counseling, Therapy, and Family Dynamics #Marital Therapy #Outcome (game theory) #Psychology #Interpersonal communication #Psychotherapist #Interpersonal relationship #Clinical psychology #Family therapy #Interpersonal psychotherapy #Social psychology #Medicine #Randomized controlled trial
paper · doi:10.1111/j.1752-0606.1988.tb00733.x
openalex publication_date 1988/04/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Although there are a growing number of outcome research studies in marital therapy, there is a complete absence of research on change processes, and how such processes relate to outcome. This study attempts to analyze the process of change in the “best” sessions of Emotionally Focused Marital Therapy (EFT) (Greenberg & Johnson, 1986). Client performance in therapy was rated on depth of experiencing and the quality of interpersonal interactions. The occurrence of particular change events arising from the theoretical principles of EFT was also noted. Results confirmed hypotheses that higher levels of experiencing and more autonomous and affiliative interactions characterized “best” sessions of couples who were successful in therapy. The implications for treatment are discussed.