Comparison of the Effectiveness of Reality Therapy and Cognitive-behavioral Therapy on the Components of Basic Psychological Needs

Background: If couples do not learn communication and conflict resolution skills, disagreements will escalate from verbal to behavioral. Objectives: This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of reality therapy based on choice theory and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in addressing the psychological needs of couples seeking counseling services. Methods: This research was a quasi-experimental study employing a pretest-posttest design with a control group. It was conducted on couples seeking counseling in Tehran, Iran, during 2022-2023. Overall, 60 participants were selected through purposeful sampling and were divided into three groups: two experimental groups and one control group (20 participants each). The first experimental group received group reality therapy for 10 sessions, each lasting 60 min, while the second experimental group received CBT for eight sessions, each lasting 90 min. The control group, on the other hand, did not undergo any interventions. The data were collected using the Basic Psychological Need Scale and analyzed using SPSS software (version 23) through multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA).  Results: The results showed a significant difference between the control group and the CBT group in identifying basic needs, namely love and belongingness, power, freedom, survival, and fun, with differences of 5.07, 5.46, 3.49, 5.31, and 4.74, respectively. The differences were statistically significant at the 0.01 level. Conclusion: The findings suggest that although both methods were successful, reality therapy based on choice theory was more influential because of its unique strategy for resolving deep-seated conflicts experienced by individuals.