Analyzing the couple therapists' lived experiences of regulating their emotions in the couple therapy process

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Counseling, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, , Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Department of Counseling, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract
The aim of the present study was to analyze the lived experiences of couple therapists in regulating their emotions in. The present study method is applied and uses qualitative descriptive phenomenology. The research population consisted of couple therapists in Tehran in 2023 who had at least five years of experience in couple therapy. The study sample consisted of 14 people from the above community who were selected through purposive sampling . Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the subjects. The data were analyzed using Collaizi seven-stage phenomenological method. The lived experiences of couple therapists in regulating their emotions led to the extraction of 5 main themes, which were: "Awareness, an introduction to regulating emotions", "Exploration, an important step in regulating emotions", "Application of techniques in regulating emotions", "Experience, a regulator of emotions" and "Development of strategies for regulating emotions". Each of the main themes included sub-themes. The findings of the study showed that in addition to the couple's experiences, the couple therapists' emotions also add to the challenges of this path, and couple therapists experience various emotions in couple therapy sessions, so the lack of attention to their emotions and appropriate emotion regulation makes the couple therapy process difficult.

Keywords



Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 01 July 2026

  • Receive Date 12 December 2024
  • Revise Date 21 January 2025
  • Accept Date 16 February 2025
  • First Publish Date 01 July 2026
  • Publish Date 01 July 2026