Abstract
Gottman Couple Therapy (GCT) is based on 40 + years of empirical findings and advocates process research, enabling an understanding of how an intervention works. Dreams-within-Conflict (DWC) is a GCT technique that softens the stand on unresolvable issues by facilitating positive emotion regulation strategies such as expressing vulnerabilities, understanding, and soothing in place of destructive strategies such as criticism and defensiveness. The aim of the study is to understand the emotion regulation process during a one-session DWC intervention using a convergent parallel mixed-methods design examining N = 30 individuals (15 couples) during the DWC intervention. The changes in emotion regulation strategies (Extrinsic/Intrinsic affect Worsening/Improving strategies–EW, IW, EI, II) in partners were examined in the presence of individual characteristics of emotion regulation traits (cognitive-reappraisal and suppression) and beliefs using self-assessment questionnaires, feedback reports, thematic coding of video recordings, and a semi-structured interview. Paired-samples t-test results showed that DWC fosters emotion regulation strategies by significantly decreasing partners’ EW and increasing EI and II strategies. Though IW strategies declined during-DWC, the changes were not significant. Hierarchical linear modeling findings showed that before-DWC emotion regulation strategies, gender, and individual emotion regulation traits of cognitive-reappraisal and suppression predicted EI, and before-DWC strategies predicted II, but none of the variables predicted EW and IW during-DWC. To further understand the interventional implications, the emotional regulation strategies and preferences for expression (over suppression) shared by the Indian couples were examined using thematic analysis. The results show that avoidance, conflict behaviors, and prioritizing parents’ emotions over partners’ (in men) were the most often employed regulatory strategies. Simultaneously, Indian couples unanimously agreed that expression of emotions was a crucial factor for marital satisfaction.