“How effective is marriage counseling?”
My husband and I have been experiencing some serious problems, and I want to try marriage counseling to save our marriage from falling apart. But does it really work?
20 Answers
Marriage counseling, couples coaching, and many other therapies can help to improve your relationship as long as both have the same goal. What is important is to do your best to acknowledge the challenging situation and address it together. For a couple, "agreeing to disagree" can be the first step to seek help (book, professional educational video, counseling, coaching, among others) and be aware of your real commitment. In my experience, therapy can help you first to understand yourself and to achieve assertive communication to be able to reevaluate the current situation and decide what, where, how, and with whom you want/need to create realistic goals. The difference between marriage and any other relationship is the intensity of the emotions; what sometimes happens is that each one is talking in a different language, has different life goals, struggles for power, or has different emotional/sexual needs, to name a few. Starting a therapeutic process with your partner can end up strengthening the relationship or helping both of you to understand what happened in the relationship to be able to grieve the loss in a healthier way.
I’ve definitely seen marriage therapy be a support for couples, but what tends to happen with marriage therapy is healthier boundaries and change from unhelpful relationship patterns. If both are on board for making it work and willing to accept/set boundaries, then it will more likely have a better outcome.
It can work if there is a shared goal. Is your spouse also vested in trying therapy?
Hello....marriage counseling will work if you apply yourselves and want it to work.
Would you like to begin marriage counseling?
Would you like to begin marriage counseling?
Hello, Thank you for reaching out. I am not a marriage counselor and don't have statistics on how often counseling saves a marriage. I do believe it is very effective when BOTH people want the marriage to work. I wish you the best of luck. Angie Gallagher Heart Wellness Coaching
Marriage counseling utilized with evidence-based practices have clinical studies that show an average of 30% reduced divorce rates. Though marriage counseling does not guarantee a couple relationship success or failure, but it does help to improve communication, establish clear expectations, increase accountability, and offer clarity to make informed decisions to stay together or disband.
Marriage Counseling can be a great option to explore, HOWEVER, only if you both want to do it. If your husband is unwilling to try marriage counseling, possibly try sitting down with him. Try to communicate in a way that he does not feel as though he is being attacked, and just try to express how certain actions in your marriage are making you feel and how you would like to fix them. Wishing you nothing but the best.
Hello. I am always pleased to hear that people want to heal their relationships rather than abandon without some effort. The answer is YES, many people are successful. In fact, over the past 22 years of practice, I’ve helped hundreds of couples resolve conflict and heal from pain and remain in their relationships with a healthier communication and improved intimacy. Dr Burke www.holisticwellnessconsultingllc.com
It does work when you find the right fit. "Shop around" for the right therapist. People who are trained in Gottman's method have many useful skills in this area.
Hi, Marriage counseling does work, if both of you are committed to making it work. The reason marriage counseling often fails is because one partner already has one foot out of the door. If this is the case, it is difficult for counseling to work. In any endeavor, if one partner is working harder than the other, the results are likely to show it. Best of luck to you, Jeanne Ramirez, MA, NCC, LPC Beautiful Mind Counseling and Therapeutic Services, LLC
It depends on the couple. However, The Gottman Method is supported by over 50 years of research and is the leader in couples therapy. I'd encourage you to look for a Gottman therapist. You can also look at their website and they offer workbooks and many books.
https://www.gottman.com/about/the-gottman-method/
https://a.co/d/9NkmXgz
https://www.gottman.com/about/the-gottman-method/
https://a.co/d/9NkmXgz
Hi,
Thank you for your question. Marriage counseling can be a great way to explore and resolve any underlying issues in the relationship by having a professional mental health counselor identify, evaluate, mediate, and provide solutions for problems. Often times, couples fail to communicate effectively so therapy can be a helpful resource to improve the way you and your partner relate and talk to each other.
I hope this has been helpful!
Best,
Jenna Torres, PsyD
Thank you for your question. Marriage counseling can be a great way to explore and resolve any underlying issues in the relationship by having a professional mental health counselor identify, evaluate, mediate, and provide solutions for problems. Often times, couples fail to communicate effectively so therapy can be a helpful resource to improve the way you and your partner relate and talk to each other.
I hope this has been helpful!
Best,
Jenna Torres, PsyD
It is important to identify key factors affecting your marriage as finances, co-parenting, infidelity, etc. An effective marriage counselor may assist you and your husband in obtaining necessary skills to improve communication, understanding, comprising, affection, etc. One has to be willing to recognize/accept their role in harming the marriage and open to change. It is a process, but acting as a team will help improve your marriage.
Marriage therapy does really work. Unfortunately, people will often wait too long to pursue treatment at which point the work can be very difficult. Marriage therapy does not work when only one member of the couple wants to work on the marriage.
Couples counseling can be very effective especially if both are willing to try and work on the relationship, you find a therapist that you both trust, and neither has already “checked out” of the relationship.
Counseling can be very effective. It really depends on how much you are willing to put into it and how much you are willing to change your attitudes and behaviors. If either or both of you are not willing to do what it takes to change, outside help will do no good.
There are two important factors that predict whether therapy is a success – how you rate your feelings about your therapist and how you rate your sense of progress during therapy. Keep in mind that the client is both you and your husband. Both need to be active participants. If you would like to read some research about the effectiveness of Marriage and Family Therapy you can find some on Psychology Today and Psychology Networker.
Psychotherapy Networker.
Psychotherapy Networker.
Marriage counseling takes both to participate, work on understanding your stuff and he needs to do the same in order to work on the both of you.
100%. Don't wait till it's too late. Marriage counseling isn't a "last ditch" effort one step before divorce. Marriage counseling is for those who are ready to put everything that they are comfortable with on the line to make their marriage the most important thing in their lives. It works. But it will require everything from both of you, and it will be 100% worth it.
Marital counseling can definitely be effective. Nonetheless, both parties have to be willing to invest effort into making individual changes.
