Emotion Focused Couples Therapy as a Treatment of Somatoform Disorders: An Outcome Study

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Date
2002-04-25
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Virginia Tech
Abstract

Sixteen couples in which one of the partners met criteria for Somatoform Disorder or Undifferentiated Somatoform Disorder as determined by the SOMS and who scored less than or equal to 101 on the Dyadic Adjustment Scale participated in this study. These couples were randomly assigned to 8 sessions of emotionally focused therapy or to a 12-week wait list condition. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of emotion focused therapy as a treatment of somatoform disorders. Results suggest that the intervention of emotion focused couples therapy (EFT) was not effective in the treatment of somatoform disorders. A significant effect (.023) was found in the increased reporting of symptoms at posttest. Implications for EFT and marriage and family therapy are discussed.

Description
Keywords
Couples Therapy, Somatoform Disorders, Emotion focused therapy
Citation