Mention marriage counseling to a group of friends, and many will recall the few sessions they dutifully completed before making the walk down the aisle. Although the premarital counseling for couples-to-be can do wonders to set the love birds up for some stellar matrimony, the ways you and your partner benefit from marriage counseling shouldn't be discounted. Maybe it's words like "counseling" and "therapy" that cause people to squirm a little in their seats, uncomfortable with exactly what that means. But after a few trips, many couples will start to see that marriage counseling can lead to many gains in their relationship.
Set the tone by entering into the endeavor with an attitude of openness. Try to check ego and expectations at the door, and allow yourself to stay open to various outcomes. Maybe you and your spouse decide counseling isn't for you, or maybe it's the ingredient that your marriage needed to get back on track. Either way, giving therapy a try is proof that you are invested in seeing what lies ahead for your marriage. If you aren't completely convinced that marriage counseling is a good fit for you, consider these seven ways you and your partner could benefit from giving it a go.
1It Provides A Fresh Perspective
In order to be productive in tackling relationship issues, both partners need to be willing to look at the relationship in as much of a nonjudgemental way as possible. According to Psychology Today, therapy aims to help couples view one another and their interactions in more adaptive ways. This means putting a stop to the blame game and taking responsibility.
2It Reignites The Spark
Some relationships become stagnant, and couples can begin to feel more like rommies than romantic partners. Attending therapy can help couples identify what's missing and how to find that special connection again, as Psych Central pointed out.
3It Heats Things Up In The Bedroom
It's likely that if you're having couple troubles in day-to-day life, being intimate with one another doesn't sound too awesome. But therapy may help to turn more than just arguments around. According to Johns Hopkins, counseling can improve the sex life of the couples attending.
4It Helps You Figure Out The Next Step
If the reason you've headed to marriage counseling is because you feel stuck, there is a specific type of therapy that can help to sort out decisions about your relationships. Discernment therapy is used with couples to help them decide if it's best to stay together and work on their relationship or better to part ways and move on separately, as the website for The Today Show reported.
5It Provides Coping Mechanisms
It's OK if you need help dealing with the "big things." As Mayo Clinic pointed out, "If you or your partner is coping with mental illness, substance abuse or other issues, your therapist might work with other health care providers to provide a complete spectrum of treatment." Learning the best way to support one another can make your marriage stronger.
6It Encourages You To Share Emotions
Emotions can be an uncomfortable area for some to tread, but to really invest in the relationship, couples are going to need to understand how to deal with emotions together. Counseling can teach spouses to be brave and secure in sharing their emotions with one another, according to Psychology Today.
7It Provides Effective Communication Skills
Negative communication can creep up on even the most positive of people. But just because you may have fallen into some bad habits, doesn't mean you're stuck. As Psych Central explained, counseling teaches couples effective ways to communicate; both verbally and non verbally.
