5 Things to Expect in Couples Counseling
93% of American couples want a happy marriage. Sometimes to achieve this, couples counseling is a must.
If you're considering couples therapy, it may be helpful to know what you should expect during your session to ease your fears.
1. Getting to Know Each Other
The first session you have in marriage therapy isn't going to fix all your problems. In fact, during the initial session, you should expect it to be like giving the counselor an introduction to your relationship.
Your counselor will take the time to get to know the couple individually and as a couple. This will help to shape the sessions that are to follow.
2. Discussing Why You've Chosen Counseling
Counselors like Robin Bryant, Ph.D., will help you get to the root of what's brought you and your significant other to therapy. There are several reasons that you might have chosen to enter therapy, including:
- Premarital advice
- Intimacy issues
- Infidelity
- Persistent fighting
These are just a few reasons that couples seek counseling. Once you've uncovered where your problems have started, you can then begin to discuss things that have occurred due to this issue.
3. Relationship Improvement
Counseling is a wonderful way to get everything out in the open without talking over each other. Not only will this help get everything out in the open, but your counselor will help you and your significant other discover ways to handle these situations on your own in the future.
Using the strategies you've been taught in therapy can drastically improve your relationship's current condition and outlook.
4. Define Goals
You'd be surprised how many couples enter a relationship with different goals. In therapy, you will set goals that define what you want to achieve by attending therapy.
Do you want to rediscover what it means to be a couple? Would you like to find ways to talk to each other without it turning into an argument?
There may even be goals you set about supporting your partner as they make a career change. The point is that you're setting and reaching these goals together instead of individually.
5. Ways to Work On Things
The work you put in during therapy sessions doesn't end once you've left the room. Your therapist will give you some things that you should aim to do outside of sessions on your own.
This might include:
- Sitting down for a specified amount of time and connecting
- Committing to a date night once a week
- Keeping a journal of how you're feeling
- Making time for intimacy
While in the beginning, this may seem like a chore, eventually, it will become second nature and will strengthen your relationship in the process.
Couples Counseling: Putting the We Back In Love
Couples Counseling can help to uncover the deepest buried issues that a couple has. While it might be overwhelming at times, it helps in the long run.
You can expect to learn new ways of approaching your issues and redefine goals that you'd like to set for your relationship. We hope this post provided what you were looking for and encourage you to check out some of the other posts in this section.