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Making Your Marriage/Relationship Better Using Marriage Counseling or Couples Therapy
The goal of marriage counseling or couples therapy is for you to achieve greater trust, happiness and pleasure in your relationship. It’s best when both partners are willing to be in treatment together, but one person alone can also make a difference in a relationship. Therapy can help you to respond differently than you have in the past and create a new result, even if you’re the only one in treatment.
Marital therapists help you to talk and listen in a more constructive way and explore the areas where you feel you’ve been let down. The therapist helps you find out more about what you want from your partner and what, in exchange, you are willing to give.
The following are some suggestions as to what you might think about before our first meeting in order to help you get started. Remember these are not the only possible jumping off points.
- Think about the expectations you had going into this relationship. Are many of them being met? Are they the same now as they were at the beginning? How have they changed or not changed over time?
- What are some of the differences between you and your spouse, such as energy levels, interests, friendships, and expectations about how money will be earned and spent?
- What kind of impact has your early family history had on you and on how you expect your relationship to be? Do you know about your partner’s early family life? How do you think that affects your relationship?
- How do you most often react when you feel disappointed, angry or let down? How does your partner respond?
- If you have children, do they come between you and your spouse?
- Are there certain personal family myths or facades that are important for you or your mate to maintain?
- Is sex pleasurable and fun? Do you feel desired and loved?
- How do you and your spouse go about solving problems? Are there some irreconcilable differences? If so how do you manage them?
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