Is Couple Counselling Right for Us? [Couples Therapy Article]

FAQ: Is Couple Counselling Right for Us?

Are you looking for assistance in helping you and your partner decide how to improve your relationship? Or are you looking for someone to tell you what to do?

If the former, then couple counselling might be something that is right for you.

If the latter, then couple counselling may not be suitable for you.

A couple counsellor has no instructions or recipes that if you follow to the letter you will find that your relationship improves. However, a couples counsellor is skilled in helping couples learn what they’re not paying attention to (or have stopped paying attention to). Some couple counsellors will be curious about the past history of the relationship – when was there a time when things were better. Some couple counsellors will be curious about the present day – how does the relationship nurture unhappy behaviour. Some counsellors will sit quietly and listen (actively) to an argument go on for a while – learning about what the partners cannot see for themselves.

Couples counselling can help perturb unhappy behaviours – but both partners have to wish for the relationship to change. Unhappy behaviours may have become necessary for one (or both) partners (eg avoiding sex) – and dislodging these behaviours might release even more unhappiness if this is not first understood – this is just one of the aims in couples therapy.

Do you think couple counselling might be right for you both?

The Inexplicable Unhappiness of Ramu Hajjam

The Pursuit of Unhappiness: The Elusive Psychology of Well-Being

Counselling Couples (Therapy in Practice)

Article by Dean Richardson, (see other articles) - All Rights Reserved and © 2011. Permission is given for parts of this article to be reproduced provided that the author's name and the original URL are included as credit for the reference.