Introduction: The existence of marital conflicts is one of the important factors in weakening the foundation of the family, and women are more affected by these conflicts. Self-silencing and emotional blackmail appear to be influential factors contributing To marital conflicts. The aim of the present study was to determine the effectiveness of Imago Therapy (relational imagery) on self-silencing and emotional blackmail in women with marital conflicts.
Method: The research method was a quasi-experimental one with a pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The statistical population of the study included all women referring to counselling centers in Yazd in 1403, from which 30 people were selected by purposive sampling and randomly assigned to two experimental (n=15) and control (n=15) groups. The assessments were conducted with questionnaires on marital conflicts (Sanai & Barati, 1990), Self-Silencing (Jack, 1991), and emotional blackmail (Karnani, 2018). The experimental group received the Imago Therapy intervention during 8 sessions, while the control group received no intervention. The data were analyzed using SPSS-26 software and multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA).
Results: The results showed that the Imago Therapy intervention was effective in reducing Self-silencing and emotional blackmail in women with marital conflicts, and the greatest effect of this intervention was on the Self-silencing variable (P<0.01).
Conclusion: Based on these findings, Imago Therapy intervention can be used to reduce destructive emotional patterns between couples, particularly self-silencing and emotional blackmail.