A BSTRACT Marital relationships often serve as crucibles for personal development but are also susceptible to the corrosive effects of psychological inflexibility. This case study investigates the clinical utility of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) in a couple experiencing escalating distress due to financial strain, poor communication, and emotional disengagement. ACT emphasizes increasing psychological flexibility – defined as the capacity to engage with difficult internal experiences while pursuing values-based action – as a mechanism of change. The couple are presented with divergent coping strategies rooted in childhood attachment injuries and dysfunctional emotional socialisation. Using ACT’s six core processes – cognitive defusion, acceptance, present-moment awareness, self-as-context, values clarification, and committed action – the 16 session intervention addressed maladaptive behavior patterns in marital conflict. The intervention included individual and joint sessions focusing on mindful communication, mutual empathy, and value-guided cooperation to promote healthier relationships. Outcome assessments showed notable improvements in psychological flexibility, conflict resolution, and emotional intimacy, with sustained changes in relational functioning observed across follow-up sessions. The study revealed that ACT is effective in addressing relational dysfunction in couples characterized by emotional avoidance or ambivalence. It emphasized the need to incorporate systemic, developmental, and contextual factors into ACT’s functional contextualist framework to enhance its clinical application.
Nallepalli et al. (2025) studied this question.