When a couple decides to get counseling, they’ve usually been having difficulties and feeling trapped for a while.
Like an individual therapist might for a person who is struggling, licensed therapists provide their knowledge and experience to help couples work through problems.
A couples therapist can help a consenting couple through the process of working things out or deciding what to do next, regardless of the issue at hand—whether it’s conflict, communication, forgiving for past wrongs, or something else.
A couples therapist is what?
Couple and family psychology is a field of psychology that is “focused on the emotions, thoughts, and behaviors of individuals, couples, and families in relationships and in the larger environment in which they function,” according to the American Psychological Association (APA).
According to the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT), marriage and family therapy is “breast; solution-focused; specific, with attainable therapeutic goals; and designed with the ‘end in mind’.”
A therapist who has earned a master’s or doctoral degree and has gained some professional experience may be granted a license by the AAMFT to work with couples and families.
According to the AAMFT, couples therapy is typically brief, lasting an average of 12 sessions.
Frequently, a person will turn to a reliable friend, relative, or religious authority for assistance, according to Worthington. It works for some people.
Others could still be in need of assistance and look for a qualified therapist.
Many couples have already received a lot of counsel that has been either more or less beneficial by the time they reach out to a professional therapist, which is typically the case. As a result, the issues in their relationship have had much more time to develop, making it harder for them to resolve them than if they had left sooner.
What is the role of a couples therapist?
A couples therapist facilitates dialogues with the goal of resolving particular issues within a relationship or in a family. According to the Mayo Clinic, this can aid in repairing strained family bonds.
According to the Mayo Clinic, a therapist might assist couples in examining their capacity to come up with solutions and find constructive ways to express their feelings. Family roles, behavior patterns, and strengths may also be discussed in therapy. Family counseling Tampa or any city for that matter will have all the tools mentioned in this article.
According to a Cleveland Clinic article, this kind of therapy is beneficial at any stage of a relationship. It was highlighted that even pre-marital counseling could aid in improving interpersonal and problem-solving abilities.
The APA reports that marriage counseling is effective for 75% of couples, according to the same article. The majority of those in the 25% of people for whom it is ineffective were either already actively separating or in violent relationships.
What types of relationship issues may couples therapy help with?
Common worries include:
- Problems with conflict communication
- Relationship issues and infidelity
- reconciliation and forgiveness for past wrongs
- Losing love or drifting apart
- problems with depression, anxiety, and personal psychology
- Addiction or severe mental health problems that a family member is experiencing
- Significant life changes, such as a jarring work shift, infertility, financial hardship, or the loss of a loved one
Couples counseling may save lives. HealthDay published a study’s findings in October, finding that heart patients who were experiencing high marital stress were 67% more likely to experience recurrent chest discomfort in the first year following a heart attack.
Patients should “be aware that marital stress in their life could be affecting their recovery,” said the study’s primary author, Cenjing Zhu, a PhD candidate in chronic illness epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health in New Haven, Connecticut.
