A controlled study of couple therapy in chronic low back pain patients. Effects on marital satisfaction, psychological distress and health attitudes.

This was a controlled, prospective study on the effectiveness of couple therapy in 63 chronic low back pain patients (CLBP) from primary health care centers. They were randomly allocated to a couple therapy (T) group, N = 33, and to a control (C) group, N = 30. Couple therapy consisting of five monthly sessions was conducted by two family therapists. All patients and their spouses participated in a 12-month follow-up. Marital communication improved in CLBP patients of the T-group, whereas it worsened in the C-group. Psychological distress decreased in male patients of the T-group, whereas it increased in male patients of the C-group. However, due to high initial levels of distress in male patients of the T-group no firm conclusion of therapy effect can be done. The trends in health attitudes of the patients were similar during the study year. No significant differences in any of the measures were found in spouses. It is concluded that couple therapy improves the quality of life in CLBP patients by enhancing marital communication.