When to seek couple’s therapy?
When there is distress or difficulties in some of these areas of the relationship:
- Communication problems, frequent arguments
- Difficulties in solving problems, making joint decisions or reaching agreements
- Tension, disputes or chronic disagreements over the relationship with one or both families of origin
- Crises related to the commitment or mutual trust in the couple, i.e., extra-marital affairs
- Emotional climate characterized by hostility, distance, and troubled or unsatisfactory sex life
- Making decisions on the continuity or breakup of the relationship, separation or divorce
- Reevaluation of the shared life project, values and priorities
- Changes or challenges related to the different stages of the couple´s life cycle: establishing a joint project, agreements about living arrangements and domestic life, decisions around becoming parents and rearing children, work-family balance and the roles and responsibilities of each partner, the empty-nest stage and different crises in older age, etc.
- Crises related to loss or traumatic experiences, such as illnesses, infertility, abortion, unemployment, financial problems.
Couple therapy is based on joint sessions, requiring the active engagement of both partners in order to bring about change. When a couple have been unsuccessful in solving their problems, couple therapy is the most effective way to overcome crisis, strengthen the emotional connection, and create a climate of reciprocity and mutual acknowledgement. The quality of the couple relationship is one of the key factors related to the wellbeing or emotional distress throughout the life span. Therefore, confronting the problems or difficulties before the relationship deteriorates, prevents unnecessary suffering for both partners and increases the quality of life.
