Marriage Counselling

Overview

Marriage counselling (MC) is a therapy designed for married couples to navigate through the conflicts of marriage life. It is a specialized form of treatment to help couples sail across the complexities of marriage life. It is counselling done to intimate partners. It is also known as couple counselling. 

MC is a short-term counselling for the partners to focus on specific problems. This helps to improve Communication between the partners and supports their relationship. Marriage counselling is a way to help couples who are having difficulties in their relationships. 

Goals of MC 

Marriage counselling aims to resolve the immediate presenting problem, provide emotional support to the couples, and increase their self-esteem and optimistic attitude. It assists couples with behavioural and relationship issues or mental and emotional disorders.

Advantages f oMC

MC is advantageous for couples who are ready to undergo short-term therapy. 

There are many advantages: 

• Counseling helps to resolve issues and conflicts.
• It refines and strengthens relationships.
• Communication grows better.
• It strengthens the trust and honesty in the bond of marriage.
• It boosts the feeling of security in marriage.
• It enhances positive feelings and intimacy toward each other.
• Increases cooperation.
• Reduces stress.
• Helps couples with the necessary tools to overcome conflicts in the future.
• Makes the couples to give priority to their relationship.

Indications of Marriage Counseling

Marriage counselling is indicated for a wide variety of reasons like anger management issues between the couples, affairs and infidelity, communication problems between the partners, an emotional distance that was created due to some unresolved issue, financial challenges, and differences in plans about future settlements. 

• It is also advised for couples about to get married, planning for kids, or making any major life adjustments. 
• It can be utilized when couples have infertility issues, differences in making decisions about having kids, and due to differences in the style of parenting. 
• It is beneficial when there are differences in the responsibilities between couples due to joint family setup. 
• It is used when one of the partners is unemployed and has financial challenges. 
• Marriage counseling can also be done when there are sexual difficulties between couples.
• This is also of utmost help to couples who are alcohol addicts, smoking people with an addiction, or having substance abuse.   

Types of Marriage Counseling 

Marriage counseling is done for couples using different approaches. They are: 

• Insight-gaining therapy: The couples who strain their relationship by frequent arguments are always angry at each other. They always try to find faults with each other. Marriage counselors gain insight into their relationship by observing the couple's interaction, relationship, and lifestyle. By collecting such data, they try to identify the root cause and the reason for their conflict and show them how to fix the issues. 
• Communication counseling: Some couples cannot communicate properly due to various reasons like fear of making their partner angry or upset or being ridiculed. This develops an emotional distance between the couples and makes their relationship weak. Communication-focused counselors train the couples to express their feelings correctly. They help couples bridge the gap in Communication. 
• Attachment therapy: This type of therapy is for couples who have been married for a long time and lost the spark and passion in their relationship due to many reasons. Couples become emotionally distant and do not share their personal or intimate feelings with a fear of rejection. In such couples, attachment therapy helps to rebuild and strengthen their relationships by exchanging their feelings, likes, and dislikes. 
• Psychodynamic couples counseling: Irrational behavior in a relationship leads to conflicts. Any traumatic or unpleasant childhood experience leads to dysfunctional behavior, which is carried into adult life. In such couples, counselors observe the behavioral pattern, identify such experiences, and counsel the affected person on overcoming the behavior to have a healthy relationship. 
• Gottman couples' therapy: This is a method that utilizes mapping the emotions of the couples. This helps the couples to understand each other well, overcome misunderstandings, and view each other from a new perspective. This method allows the couples to respect each other. 
• Positive psychology couples therapy: Over a while in long-term relationships, the spark and excitement fade, causing couples to overlook the value of a supportive partner. This therapy reminds the couples of the blessings in their life and encourages them to appreciate and cherish the relationship. The counsellors encourage the couples to reflect on the moments that brought them joy and satisfaction throughout the day. This promotes a sense of positivity and re-lights the relationship. 
• Emotionally focused therapy: This evidence-based counselling therapy is based on adult attachment styles. This has three stages: de-escalation, restructuring, and consolidation. By making the couples identify the negative interactions leading to conflicts, the counsellors encourage Communication and emotional expression by using new techniques and skill sets.  
• Imago relationship therapy: This is an approach of blending spiritual and behavioural methods where conflicts are viewed as solutions. They try to identify the leading cause of disharmony between the couples and find a solution through communication. 

The Success of Marriage Counseling

The success of counseling depends on how much the couples are ready to be involved in revamping their relationship. Patience, time, honesty, and realistic goals are necessary to make things work better between the couples. During the counseling, the romantic partners can discuss things with the counselor or meet independently before meeting. 

Conclusion 

Marriage counselling is essential for couples navigating the complexities of married life. Addressing conflicts and enhancing Communication builds strength and makes relationships more resilient. Ultimately, with patience, honesty, and realistic goals, marriage counselling can help couples to create lasting, fulfilling relationships.