Cognitive Processes and Marital Satisfaction: Research, Theories and Clinical Implications

Cognitive models of marital distress have received increasing attention. There are four major goals of this paper: (1) to review the prominent cognitive theories of marital distress and corresponding empirical data; (2) to provide theoretical integration; (3) to discuss the adjunctive use of cognitive interventions with behavioural marital therapy and outcome studies assessing the efficacy of cognitive clinical applications with couples; (4) to suggest future clinical and research directions.