WAITING LIST CONTROLLED TRIAL OF COGNITIVE MARITAL THERAPY IN SEVERE MARITAL DISCORD

Forty-one couples with severe marital discord participated in a controlled trial conducted to evaluate whether a form of marital therapy that is designed to enhance marital intimacy through facilitating self-disclosure of personal constructs was effective. The study found that there was no spontaneous remission in marital discord in couples on a 10-week waiting list. Couples subjectively reported improvement as a consequence of participating in marital therapy, and couples in therapy and on the waiting list showed a significant reduction in symptoms of nonpsychotic emotional illness. There was a significant pattern of improvement for wives in the therapy group compared to the waiting list group, but no such effect for the husbands.