Marriage is no snowflake; whether you’ve been married for 20 years or a month. People have varying personalities and once a couple is married or is looking to marry, the partners should recognize this fact.

Marriage experts believe that holding back on the problems you’re currently experiencing in your relationship could potentially cause it to crumble. A marriage counselor is a professional who guides couples to recognize their problems and helps solve them. The outcome of successful marriage counseling should be resolved conflicts and better relationships. Marriage therapy helps couples realize the reasons they need to rebuild and strengthen their relationship or divorce.

While occasional marriage counseling is important for a marriage to keep going, not all situations require this psychotherapy.

Instances Couples Resort to Marriage Counseling

Some of the reasons a couple would seek marriage counseling are:

1. As a preventative measure

This type of psychotherapy is not only for married couples but also for the partners looking to tie the knot in the future. It’s also not meant for people having poor relationship experiences.

If a couple is planning on getting married, they can opt for marriage counseling as a preventative measure. This therapy aims to teach the couple the importance of effective communication to resolve conflicts. Each session teaches the partners that hurdles are common in relationships, but how they handle them determines how they come out.

Preventative marriage counseling is crucial in helping couples develop attachment bonds, so they can feel emotionally safe with one another.

2. To Resolve Conflict

Timing is everything in psychotherapy. The earlier a couple seeks help for their marriage problems, the better their chances of resolving.

In marriage counseling, couples learn that they’re not perfect and that the sins of the other might be surprising. However, what matters is understanding that everyone is a sinner. Partners are urged to “borrow other people’s glasses” and look at the other with them. This is to say, partners shouldn’t jump into conclusion and they should take time to talk through. Anger is blinding and it can cost someone a lifetime treasure in a heartbeat! When angry, marriage partners should avoid withdrawing or emotionally punishing each other as this could cause them to drift more apart.

A marriage counselor also helps couples smoothen communication to minimize unnecessary fights. Partners should understand that their desires don’t always have to come first. There’s such a thing as compromising!

The marriage counselor in Austin understands there are various causes of conflicts in a relationship, but the resolving approach determines the success of the couple. Partners don’t have to apply the “four horsemen”; being defensive, criticizing, stonewalling, and being contemptuous.

3. When divorce is the only option

Couples can feel frustrated with one another amid the ups and downs in a relationship. If a couple is going through a rough patch like a loss (financial, job-wise), they may end up opting for a divorce just to maintain their sanity.

Although the only solution to some marriages is divorce, it’s not always the final and right answer. Some couples may go through psychotherapy to realize why they fell in love in the first place.

While a marriage therapist may help revive a dying relationship, sometimes the feelings and drive to stay married might be completely lost. In such an event, the partners may amicably decide that a divorce is the ultimate solution.

However, this is often the last resort after all the other effective therapy strategies fail. Marriage therapy teaches that couples should be in the realm of collaboration to avoid expecting too much of the other partner. It’s all about forgiveness and the willingness to stay married.

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A marriage counselor in Austin can provide various types of couple therapies depending on the problem a couple is experiencing. The goals the couple sets at the beginning of marriage therapy will impact the progress and outcome!