Marriage counseling, also known as couples therapy and relationship counseling, helps couples work through their specific relationship issues. Thriveworks marriage counseling in Baltimore, MD is led by licensed professionals — often licensed marriage and family therapists (LMFTs) — who are experts in their field and best-equipped to help couples. Some examples of common focuses within Marriage counseling include:
- Jealousy
- Trust issues
- Infidelity
- Opposing values
- Different visions for the future
- Disagreements in parenting
- Lack of trust
- Financial distress
- Sex issues
Marriage counseling works by helping couples identify and better navigate their unique challenges. Following an initial assessment of the couple in terms of strengths and needs, the therapist would then discuss their therapeutic goals and any possible approaches or ways of working together as therapist and couple.
Couples attend sessions together, whether they meet in person or by video. In addition to regular marriage counseling sessions, each partner may also be asked to attend a few individual sessions to supplement their progress. This will allow their counselor to get to know each individual better, assess each of their personal needs, and develop the very best treatment plan moving forward.
On average, couples attend marriage counseling for 12 weeks. However, marriage counseling may last longer or shorter, dependent on the couples' needs, the challenges they'd like to work through, and the pace of their progress. Marriage counselors and therapists at Thriveworks in Baltimore, MD work with their clients to create goals, decide on ideal timelines, and establish treatment plans.
It is estimated that between 40%-50% of all marriages in America end in divorce. The reasons for divorce are diverse and specific to an individual couple’s situation – often the reasons will be irreconcilable and divorce may prove to be the only option. However, in many cases divorce stems from conflicts that can be resolved through conversation, mutual understanding and professional guidance aimed to help couples regulate their emotions. Experts who collected and analyzed data on decades’ worth of divorces identified that one of the primary reasons for divorce was the lack of reconciliation after an argument. These situations lead to a rise in persistent resentment and unhappiness in relationships.
Marriage counseling at Thriveworks Baltimore can help facilitate and promote communication required to resolve these problems and help repair a relationship. But therapists do recognize that not all relationships can be repaired and at times help to facilitate an amicable separation and reduce the damage to a family during the divorce process.
Challenges In Relationships
There are many different challenges and struggles that arise during relationships – communication problems, adultery or being sexually unsatisfied, among many others. These challenges can arise very early in a relationship and are often not dealt with. Research suggests that partners in relationships facing such challenges will not seek marriage or couples counseling until they have been unhappy for six years on average. Unfortunately, this can often lead to resentment that is severe enough to prevent full reconciliation. It is always recommended that couples seek professional marriage counseling sooner rather than later.
How Can A Counselor Help?
Marriage and couples counseling is not a simple fix that will restore and heal all of the problems within a relationship. A couples counselor will aim to educate the participants on how to regulate their feelings and respond reasonably to intense emotions. They will also teach them how to communicate their thoughts to one another, how to listen effectively and empathetically to their partner and generally develop the skills necessary to resolve conflicts early and prevent a rise of a lasting resentment. Importantly, a counselor will not provide simple solutions to a couple’s problems, but will guide the partners to working out the solutions themselves.
At Thriveworks Baltimore our professional couples and marriage counselors offer support to people at various stages of their relationships and with very different problems. Thanks to our extensive experience we understand how to best help our clients – we tailor our couples and marriage counseling sessions to the individual needs of every couple. So please, reach out to us now to arrange your first couples or marriage counseling session.
