Positive Psychology can improve our romantic relationships

Imagine that Positive Psychology could be the key to improving the communication in your romantic relationship. 

Some researchers investigated the effect of Positive Psychology interventions on romantic relationships by conducting an experiment: 38 couples were divided into two groups. 20 of them were chosen to participate in positive psychology interventions for four weeks, while the other 18 served as a comparison group, which was not involved in any kind of treatment. The Intervention techniques were designed to correct dysfunctional communication, train the couples in problem-solving skills concerning relationship issues and encourage them to share positive emotions or experiences with one another. Examples for the instructions would be to write a gratitude letter to one’s partner and then talk about it together, identify activities that spark happiness and schedule them together as well as recognize the strengths of the partner and the relationship. The researchers measured subjective well being, communication patterns within the couples, degree of agreement within the relationship as well as the quality of the interaction between the partners before the intervention phase, right after it and only for the intervention group also 1 month after the intervention. What they found was, that compared to the control group the intervention group showed changes in subjective well-being (more positive emotions) and higher quality of interaction directly after the intervention. One month later though, only the higher quality of interaction was still present. 

Hence, engaging in positive psychology interventions with your partner could improve the quality of your interaction long-term, and if you make it part of your daily routine it could also improve the individual well being!

Reference:

Antoine, P. , Andreotti, E., Congard, A. (2019). Positive Psychology Intervention for couples: A pilot study. Stress and Health (36)179-190