Compare of the Effectiveness of Psychodrama Therapy and Hold‐Me‐Tight Relationship‐Education Program on Rumination and Psychological Symptoms of Women Affected by Marital Infidelity

Introduction: Marital infidelity is a significant source of distress in both personal and interpersonal aspects of couples' lives, often leading to the destruction of their relationships. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of psychodrama therapy and the Hold Me Tight relationship education program on rumination and psychological symptoms in women affected by marital infidelity.Method: This semi-experimental study employed a pretest-posttest design with a control group and a two-month follow-up. The statistical population consisted of all women affected by marital infidelity who sought assistance at counseling centers in the first district of Tehran in 2022. In the initial stage, women were selected selected using a convenience sampling method then randomly divided assigned to two groups (each (15 women each) one control group (15 women) women). The groups underwent participated in therapy (10 sessions sessions, minutes) minutes each) hold‐me‐tight a Hold Me Tight relationship education (8 sessions sessions, minutes). minutes each). Data were collected using the Ruminative Response Scale of developed by Hoeksema & Morrow (1991) and symptom the Symptom Checklist-25 of by Najarian & Dawoodi (2001). Analysis Data analysis was conducted using repeated measures analysis variance with SPSS software version 28 28.Results: The results indicated that both interventions had a significant impact on rumination and psychological symptoms (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the Bonferroni post hoc test revealed that the Hold-Me-Tight relationship education program was more effective in reducing rumination and psychological symptoms (P < 0.05).Discussion and conclusion: Based on the results of the present study, it can be concluded that psychodrama therapy and the Hold Me Tight relationship education program can be effective treatment methods for addressing rumination and psychological symptoms among women affected by marital infidelity.