Marriage and Family Therapy, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA.
Fam Process. 2011 Jun;50(2):203-20. doi: 10.1111/j.1545-5300.2011.01355.x.
Attachment issues are viewed by many therapists as lying at the heart of couple distress. It is critical to empirically validate therapy processes that facilitate couples in responding to each other's attachment needs. This study examined enactments as a therapy process and change mechanism to promote secure attachment in couple therapy. Sixteen couples were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 experimental groups--1 group received 3 therapist-centered sessions followed by 3 enactment-based sessions, and a second group received 3 enactment-based sessions followed by 3 therapist-centered sessions. To measure between-session and within-session change, each spouse completed presession and postsession measures of attachment security each week. Results showed that couples who received enactment-based sessions first reported greater increases in attachment security than those receiving therapist-centered sessions first. These same couples continued to show improvement after switching to the therapist-centered sessions. Conversely, couples who received therapist-centered sessions first did not increase attachment after switching to enactment-based sessions. For wives, enactment-based sessions produced the greatest improvement in attachment, yet both therapy process modalities led to some improvement. Conversely, for husbands, attachment improved only when they received enactment-based sessions first. Enactment-based sessions may therefore be more important for husbands than wives. Overall, with some qualification it appears that enactment-based therapy process may improve attachment more than a therapist-centered process. These observed trends and findings are generally consistent with previous research supporting use of enactments in couple therapy.
许多治疗师认为，依恋问题是夫妻关系出现问题的核心。实证验证有助于夫妻满足彼此依恋需求的治疗过程至关重要。本研究考察了角色扮演作为一种治疗过程和变化机制，以促进夫妻治疗中的安全依恋。16 对夫妇被随机分配到 2 个实验组中的 1 个——1 个组接受 3 次以治疗师为中心的治疗，然后接受 3 次基于角色扮演的治疗；第二个组接受 3 次基于角色扮演的治疗，然后接受 3 次以治疗师为中心的治疗。为了测量治疗期间和治疗期间的变化，每个配偶每周都要完成关于依恋安全性的治疗前和治疗后测量。结果表明，首先接受角色扮演治疗的夫妇比首先接受以治疗师为中心的治疗的夫妇报告的依恋安全性增加更大。这些夫妇在转换为以治疗师为中心的治疗后继续表现出改善。相反，首先接受以治疗师为中心的治疗的夫妇在转换为角色扮演治疗后并没有增加依恋。对于妻子来说，角色扮演治疗在依恋方面产生了最大的改善，但两种治疗过程模式都导致了一些改善。相反，对于丈夫来说，只有当他们首先接受角色扮演治疗时，依恋才会改善。因此，角色扮演治疗对于丈夫来说可能比妻子更重要。总的来说，在某些限定条件下，基于角色扮演的治疗过程似乎比以治疗师为中心的过程更能改善依恋。这些观察到的趋势和发现与之前支持在夫妻治疗中使用角色扮演的研究基本一致。
