Family Research and Couple Therapy

Perceived Effectiveness of Compassion-Focused Therapy in Reducing Marital Shame and Feelings of Worthlessness and Enhancing Self-Acceptance in the Relationship: A Qualitative Study in Tehran

Laleh Puyan ^* , Roya Radman

Objective: This study aimed to explore married individuals’ lived experiences of the perceived effects of compassion-focused therapy on marital shame, feelings of worthlessness, and self-acceptance within the couple relationship.

Methods and Materials: This qualitative study was conducted using thematic analysis. Participants were 22 married individuals living in Tehran who had experienced compassion-focused therapy for emotional and relational difficulties. They were selected through purposive sampling with maximum variation. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews and sampling continued until theoretical saturation was reached. Interviews were audio-recorded with informed consent, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using NVivo version 14. Data analysis followed the main phases of thematic analysis, including familiarization with the data, initial coding, searching for themes, reviewing themes, defining and naming themes, and producing the final report.

Findings: Five main categories were extracted from the data: “moving from marital shame to safe disclosure of vulnerability,” “weakening the inner voice of worthlessness,” “enhancing relational self-acceptance,” “reconstructing couple interaction through compassion,” and “cultural barriers and continuity of compassion practice.” Participants reported that compassion-focused therapy helped them reinterpret shame not as evidence of personal defectiveness but as an understandable emotional response shaped by past experiences and relational contexts. Many participants described a reduction in self-blame, greater ability to express emotional needs, and increased acceptance of personal limitations and relational vulnerability.

Conclusion: The findings suggest that compassion-focused therapy may reduce marital shame and feelings of worthlessness and enhance self-acceptance in romantic relationships by reducing self-criticism, activating soothing emotional systems, cultivating a compassionate inner dialogue, and reconstructing the meaning of relational failures. Given the qualitative nature of the study, the results should be interpreted as perceived and experienced effectiveness rather than causal efficacy. Controlled intervention studies are recommended to confirm these findings.

Couples’ Lived Experiences of Financial Conflicts in Marriage with Emphasis on Power, Trust, Justice, and Economic Decision-Making Style

Farid Tavan , Omid Yari ^* , Shiva Omidi

Objective: This study aimed to explore couples’ lived experiences of financial conflicts in marriage, focusing on power, trust, perceived justice, and economic decision-making style among married couples living in Tehran.

Methods and Materials: This qualitative study was conducted using an interpretative phenomenological design. Participants included 18 married couples living in Tehran, comprising 36 individuals, who were selected through purposive sampling with maximum variation in age, length of marriage, employment status, educational level, and perceived socioeconomic status. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews. Interviews continued until theoretical saturation was achieved; initial saturation occurred after the thirty-second interview, and four additional interviews were conducted to confirm conceptual adequacy. All interviews were audio-recorded with participants’ consent, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using thematic analysis supported by NVivo software. Credibility and dependability were enhanced through member checking, peer debriefing, audit trail documentation, and continuous comparison of codes and categories.

Findings: Data analysis led to the emergence of four main categories: “financial power and hidden control in the relationship,” “economic trust and boundaries of financial transparency,” “perceived justice in contribution, consumption, and responsibility,” and “couples’ economic decision-making style.” The findings indicated that financial conflict was not merely a consequence of limited income; rather, it was embedded in the relational meanings of money. Participants described money as a symbol of respect, security, autonomy, commitment, equality, and trust. Inconsistent spending and saving patterns, financial secrecy, unilateral decisions, support for family of origin, unequal responsibility, and the invisibility of unpaid domestic labor were among the most salient sources of conflict.

Conclusion: Financial conflicts in marriage intensify when money becomes a medium of power, secrecy, injustice, or non-participatory decision-making. Couple therapy and family financial education should simultaneously address financial transparency, emotionally safe conversations about money, renegotiation of relational justice, and development of collaborative economic decision-making patterns.

Modeling the Role of Family Spirituality in Predicting Marital Resilience through the Mediation of Meaning in Life and Relational Hope

Ramin Naderi ^*

Objective: This study aimed to qualitatively explain the role of family spirituality in shaping marital resilience through the processual mechanisms of meaning in life and relational hope among married couples in Tehran.

Methods and Materials: This qualitative study was conducted using thematic analysis. The research population consisted of married couples living in Tehran who had experienced marital, economic, familial, or emotional stressors but had continued their relationship. Participants were selected through purposive sampling with attention to diversity in age, length of marriage, socioeconomic status, and number of children. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and continued until theoretical saturation was achieved. A total of 24 participants, including 12 women and 12 men, participated in the study. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using NVivo software. Coding and theme development were performed through iterative reading, initial coding, theme construction, review, and refinement. Credibility was enhanced through member checking, peer debriefing, analytic memoing, prolonged engagement with the data, and maintenance of an audit trail.

Findings: Data analysis yielded four main categories: “family spirituality as a shared meaning-making system,” “meaning in life as reinterpretation of marital suffering,” “relational hope as a force for repair and continuity,” and “marital resilience as relational reorganization after crisis.” The findings indicated that family spirituality was experienced not merely as religious ritual, but as a shared relational field of ethical values, trust in God, forgiveness, commitment, gratitude, compassion, and perceived transcendence in marital life. Family spirituality appeared to strengthen marital resilience by helping couples reinterpret adversity, preserve a sense of purpose, imagine a repairable future, and sustain emotional connection despite conflict.

Conclusion: The findings suggest that family spirituality may enhance marital resilience through the intertwined mechanisms of meaning in life and relational hope. Culturally sensitive couple interventions in Iranian contexts may benefit from integrating couples’ spiritual resources to support meaning-making, hope reconstruction, emotional repair, and resilient marital functioning.

The Relationship Between Mother–Wife Role Conflict, Emotional Exhaustion, and Marital Satisfaction Among Employed Women

Mahsa Kian ^* , Milad Roshan

Objective: This study aimed to explore employed women’s lived experiences of the relationship between mother–wife role conflict, emotional exhaustion, and marital satisfaction in the family and occupational context of Tehran.

Methods and Materials: This qualitative study employed a thematic analysis approach. Participants were 18 married employed mothers living in Tehran, selected through purposive sampling with maximum variation in age, education, duration of marriage, number of children, and type of employment. Data were collected using individual semi-structured interviews. Sampling continued until theoretical saturation was reached; saturation occurred at the sixteenth interview, and two additional interviews were conducted to confirm data adequacy. After obtaining informed consent, interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using NVivo software. Data analysis followed the phases of familiarization, initial coding, searching for themes, reviewing themes, defining and naming themes, and producing the final report.

Findings: Four main categories emerged from the analysis: “temporal collision and simultaneity of role demands,” “emotional exhaustion caused by affective labor and invisible responsibilities,” “erosion of marital relationship quality through reduced communication, intimacy, and support,” and “protective strategies, including spousal support, role boundary management, and redefinition of personal identity.” The findings indicated that mother–wife role conflict is not merely a matter of time shortage; rather, it is interwoven with guilt, normative pressure, emotional fatigue, and reduced relational capacity.

Conclusion: The results suggest that marital satisfaction among employed women becomes vulnerable when maternal and spousal demands are concentrated on women without sufficient emotional and practical spousal support and without family-friendly organizational policies. Couple-based interventions, supportive communication training, equitable division of domestic labor, and workplace flexibility may reduce emotional exhaustion and enhance marital satisfaction.

Explaining the Psychological Mechanisms Underlying the Development of Sexual Disinterest in Long-Term Relationships with Emphasis on Emotional Distance, Role Pressure, and Reduced Spontaneity

Darya Parsa , Navid Zare , Yalda Yalda ^*

Objective: This study aimed to explain the psychological mechanisms through which sexual disinterest develops and persists in long-term couple relationships, with particular emphasis on emotional distance, role pressure, and reduced sexual spontaneity.

Methods and Materials: This qualitative study was conducted using thematic analysis. The participants were 24 married individuals living in Tehran who had been in their marital relationship for at least five years and reported a perceived decline in sexual desire within the long-term relationship. Participants were selected through purposive sampling with maximum variation in gender, age, duration of marriage, employment status, and parental status. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews and sampling continued until theoretical saturation was achieved. Each interview lasted between 45 and 80 minutes. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using NVivo software through initial coding, code clustering, identification of subthemes, and development of main themes. Credibility and trustworthiness were enhanced through member checking, peer coding, analytic memo writing, and maintaining an audit trail.

Findings: Data analysis resulted in four main categories: “erosion of intimacy and formation of emotional distance,” “dominance of role pressure and psycho-physical fatigue,” “reduced spontaneity and transformation of sex into an obligation,” and “cycles of avoidance, misinterpretation, and communicative silence.” The findings indicated that sexual disinterest in long-term relationships is not merely a consequence of reduced physical attraction or the passage of time; rather, it emerges from the interaction of emotional neglect, accumulated role burdens, loss of spontaneous desire, and avoidant communication patterns around sexual needs.

Conclusion: Sexual disinterest in long-term relationships should be understood as a relational, contextual, and multidimensional phenomenon. Couple-based interventions need to move beyond direct behavioral prescriptions for sexual activity and instead focus on rebuilding emotional intimacy, redistributing role burdens, reducing sexual obligation, enhancing sexual agency and spontaneity, and fostering safe communication about sexual needs.

Developing an Integrated Model of Marital Intimacy Based on Attachment Security, Self-Disclosure, Acceptance of Vulnerability, and Spousal Emotional Responsiveness

Kian Karimi ^*

Objective: This study aimed to develop an integrated model of marital intimacy based on couples’ lived experiences of attachment security, self-disclosure, acceptance of vulnerability, and spousal emotional responsiveness.

Methods and Materials: This qualitative study was conducted using thematic analysis. Participants included 24 married individuals living in Tehran, Iran, including 12 women and 12 men, selected through purposive sampling with maximum variation in age, marriage duration, educational level, and parental status. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews. Interviews continued until theoretical saturation was reached; saturation occurred at the twenty-first interview, and three additional interviews were conducted to ensure data adequacy. All interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using NVivo software. The analytic procedure followed the main phases of thematic analysis: familiarization with data, initial coding, searching for themes, reviewing themes, defining and naming themes, and producing the final report. To enhance trustworthiness, member checking, peer debriefing, reflexive memoing, and an audit trail were used.

Findings: Data analysis resulted in four main categories: “attachment security as the psychological foundation of intimacy,” “gradual and reciprocal self-disclosure,” “acceptance of vulnerability and suspension of judgment,” and “spousal emotional responsiveness and relational repair.” The findings indicated that marital intimacy is not merely a result of physical closeness or relationship duration; rather, it emerges through a dynamic cycle involving felt security, the possibility of authentic self-expression, being accepted in moments of vulnerability, and receiving emotionally validating responses from one’s spouse. Based on the findings, marital intimacy was conceptualized as a circular and interactive process in which attachment security facilitates self-disclosure, self-disclosure opens the space for vulnerability, acceptance of vulnerability reduces defensiveness and withdrawal, and emotional responsiveness strengthens or weakens the entire intimacy cycle.

Conclusion: The results suggest that marital intimacy in long-term relationships is a multidimensional, interactive, and reconstructive phenomenon. Couple therapy interventions may enhance marital intimacy by simultaneously targeting attachment security, healthy self-disclosure, fear of vulnerability, and spousal emotional responsiveness.

Psychological Effects of Marital Comparison on Social Media on Relationship Satisfaction, Image of Marriage, and Emotional Expectations

Taha Ahmadi ^* , Sanaz Zandi

Objective: This study aimed to explore married individuals’ lived experiences of marital comparison on social media and its psychological effects on relationship satisfaction, image of marriage, and emotional expectations.

Methods and Materials: This qualitative study was conducted using thematic analysis. Participants were 22 married individuals living in Tehran, selected through purposive sampling with maximum variation in gender, age, length of marriage, and educational background. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and continued until theoretical saturation was achieved. All interviews were audio-recorded with informed consent, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using NVivo software. To enhance trustworthiness, member checking, peer coding, analytic memoing, and an audit trail were employed. The interview protocol focused on participants’ exposure to marital content on social media, experiences of upward comparison, perceived changes in relationship satisfaction, reconstructed expectations of marriage, and emotional responses to idealized couple portrayals.

Findings: Data analysis yielded five main categories: “idealization of others’ marriages and upward comparison,” “reduced relationship satisfaction and increased salience of partner shortcomings,” “distortion of the mental image of marriage and emergence of performative standards,” “intensification of emotional expectations and comparison-based demands,” and “regulatory strategies and reconstruction of media boundaries.” Participants described that repeated exposure to romantic images, gifts, trips, ceremonies, and public displays of affection by other couples created feelings of relational inadequacy, doubt about the quality of their own marriage, comparison of the spouse with external models, and unrealistic emotional expectations.

Conclusion: The findings suggest that marital comparison on social media is not merely a cognitive act of comparison, but a multilayered psychological process that may reshape individuals’ evaluation of their relationship, their understanding of marriage, and their emotional expectations from the spouse. Strengthening couples’ media literacy, promoting open dialogue about social media effects, and establishing shared digital boundaries may reduce the negative consequences of this phenomenon.

Developing a Mentalization-Based Couple Therapy Model to Improve Understanding of Spousal Intentions, Reduce Relational Misinterpretation, and Enhance Emotional Security

Kaveh Taheri , Behrad Qasemi , Aida Rahimi ^*

Objective: This study aimed to develop a qualitative model of mentalization-based couple therapy focused on improving the understanding of spousal intentions, reducing relational misinterpretation, and enhancing emotional security in marital relationships.

Methods and Materials: This qualitative study was conducted using thematic analysis. The study population consisted of married couples living in Tehran who reported recurrent conflicts, misinterpretation of their spouse’s behaviors, and emotional insecurity within the relationship. Participants were selected through purposive sampling. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with 24 married participants, including 12 women and 12 men. Inclusion criteria were being married for at least two years, living in Tehran, willingness to participate voluntarily, and experiencing relational conflicts rooted in misunderstanding or misinterpretation. Interviews continued until theoretical saturation was achieved. After transcription, data were analyzed using NVivo software through initial coding, code organization, development of subthemes, and extraction of main themes. To enhance trustworthiness, member checking, peer review, analytic memo writing, and constant comparison were applied.

Findings: Data analysis led to the emergence of five main themes: collapse of mentalization under emotional arousal, hostile attribution and certainty in reading the spouse’s mind, emotional insecurity and defensive relational cycles, reconstruction of mentalizing curiosity in couple dialogue, and formulation of a phased mentalization-based couple therapy model. The findings indicated that relational misinterpretation intensifies when spouses treat the partner’s behavior not as an ambiguous relational signal to be explored, but as definite evidence of rejection, indifference, or lack of love.

Conclusion: The proposed model suggests that mentalization-based couple therapy may improve marital interaction by reducing interpretive certainty, strengthening reflective pause, regulating emotional arousal, and fostering curiosity-based dialogue. These processes can contribute to more accurate understanding of spousal intentions and greater emotional security.

Family Research and Couple Therapy

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Perceived Effectiveness of Compassion-Focused Therapy in Reducing Marital Shame and Feelings of Worthlessness and Enhancing Self-Acceptance in the Relationship: A Qualitative Study in Tehran

Couples’ Lived Experiences of Financial Conflicts in Marriage with Emphasis on Power, Trust, Justice, and Economic Decision-Making Style

Modeling the Role of Family Spirituality in Predicting Marital Resilience through the Mediation of Meaning in Life and Relational Hope

The Relationship Between Mother–Wife Role Conflict, Emotional Exhaustion, and Marital Satisfaction Among Employed Women

Explaining the Psychological Mechanisms Underlying the Development of Sexual Disinterest in Long-Term Relationships with Emphasis on Emotional Distance, Role Pressure, and Reduced Spontaneity

Developing an Integrated Model of Marital Intimacy Based on Attachment Security, Self-Disclosure, Acceptance of Vulnerability, and Spousal Emotional Responsiveness

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Perceived Effectiveness of Compassion-Focused Therapy in Reducing Marital Shame and Feelings of Worthlessness and Enhancing Self-Acceptance in the Relationship: A Qualitative Study in Tehran

Couples’ Lived Experiences of Financial Conflicts in Marriage with Emphasis on Power, Trust, Justice, and Economic Decision-Making Style

Modeling the Role of Family Spirituality in Predicting Marital Resilience through the Mediation of Meaning in Life and Relational Hope

The Relationship Between Mother–Wife Role Conflict, Emotional Exhaustion, and Marital Satisfaction Among Employed Women

Explaining the Psychological Mechanisms Underlying the Development of Sexual Disinterest in Long-Term Relationships with Emphasis on Emotional Distance, Role Pressure, and Reduced Spontaneity

Developing an Integrated Model of Marital Intimacy Based on Attachment Security, Self-Disclosure, Acceptance of Vulnerability, and Spousal Emotional Responsiveness

Psychological Effects of Marital Comparison on Social Media on Relationship Satisfaction, Image of Marriage, and Emotional Expectations

Developing a Mentalization-Based Couple Therapy Model to Improve Understanding of Spousal Intentions, Reduce Relational Misinterpretation, and Enhance Emotional Security