Marriage is the most important life decision that anyone can make in their adulthood. It is the beginning of the family and an unwritten agreement for a lifelong commitment. It is beyond the physical union that helps partners even bond emotionally together. However, some marriages may encounter rough patches occasionally over the years. Every marital relationship faces challenges that are simply inevitable. When they happen, that doesn’t necessarily mean you no longer love each other. It means that the situation demands both the partners to work together to overcome the difficulties in a constructive and considerate way to keep it going. Couples therapy otherwise known as marriage counseling can help you fix your troubled marriage. It may seem scary to consider that your marriage is in trouble or to even recognize the challenges in the first place, but experts say that these challenges cannot be overlooked. If left unattended, things may get even worse.
One of the biggest myths about marriage counseling is that you should only try it as a last resort when your marriage is already on the rocks and nothing has worked out. But couples therapy works best when you opt for it when problems just began. All you need to do is to express your wish to go with couple therapy together with your partner and that it should not be considered as a red flag. It means that you have identified a problem and want to solve it under the guidance of qualified mental health before it gets tough to handle together.
What Are The Relationship Challenges That Marriage Counseling Can Help You With?
Therapy is for all sorts of couples and can help sort any kind of challenges when identified at the right time. Most of the challenges that couples often struggle with are quite similar all over the world. However, the degree to which those challenges affect them badly depends upon the factors such as bonding, understanding and the relationship dynamics, partner’s personality, and their values. Reading about how to overcome such conflicts or friendly advice may not help you find a solution for a couple of disputes. To truly get to the roots of the issue and to find a long-term solution, you need professional guidance with someone who understands each of you separately and creates a judgment-free zone where you and your spouse can actively participate.
Read on to know how couples therapy can help you deal with the most common relationship challenges
• Financial Pressures
Money is the most common reason for couples that can bring in a host of issues, questions, and potential conflicts. With couple’s therapy, your therapist works with both partners to help identify the values that underlie their views on the role of money in their relationship. Other hidden conflicts that need attention are addressed during the counseling session. Certain problems associated with any of the partners such as unhealthy spending habits, improper financial budgeting, etc. are evaluated and advised accordingly. This way therapy can help alleviate the strain of financial issues in couples seeking therapy help.
• Communication Issues
Sometimes, one of the partners may not be able to communicate what they wish to have in their relationship, what bothers them, or what leads to arguments or misunderstandings. But a therapist can help you express those feelings openly so that both partners can understand each other’s perspectives.
• Infidelity
Infidelity is unfaithfulness in a relationship or marriage that can severely strain a relationship. An affair can leave the other person devastated, betrayed, and confused. When one of the partners tries to cheat on the other, the relationship reaches a critical stage, where the chances of reconciliation are very low. However, there are chances that a therapist will help you understand why one of the partners was unfaithful and look out for possible solutions
• Sexual Problems
Most people become conscious and feel ashamed to speak about their sex lives. In treating a sexual problem in a relationship, the non-sexual interaction between the partners cannot be ignored. Working with a therapist trained in couple therapy or psychosexual therapy can be very helpful in addressing couples’ concerns over each other. Lack of intimacy is also common with partners who have been together for a pretty long time but are busy in their own lives due to family expansion or any other reasons. If you realize that, you and your partner have been more like roommates rather than romantic relation, then couples therapy can work great, to help you rekindle that spark and strengthen your relationship.
• Conflicts & Misunderstandings
Conflicts are quite common in any relationship, and they are inevitable. One cannot eliminate them from their lives. When conflicts happen between the couple they involve shouting, name-calling, or hurtful remarks which can eventually turn toxic to their relationship. In that case, couples therapy can be so helpful in guiding the couple to develop rapport with each other in an active and empathetic manner and also learning to understand from where some of the misunderstood behaviors have aroused.
• Traumatic Events
Certain traumatic events like abortion, the loss of a loved one, being a victim of sexual abuse, and other traumatic life events can wreak havoc on relationships. When you choose to go for marriage counseling, the therapist can help both partners process through what has happened and how it has affected their relationship and work out a way to heal together.
Conclusion
Regardless of your age or stage of your relationship, therapy can help couples live better. Whether you are on a date or married for two decades, whether you are in a straight relationship or same-sex marriage, counseling can help address conflicts and boost your intimacy. Psychotherapy Partners in Minneapolis provides therapy both in-person and online for couples who have learned that therapy provides the best solution to heal their relationship. To get appointed right away, click here.