Seeking counseling can help your relationship recover and allow you to realize that your problems can be resolved and overcome. Many couples experience similar problems and seek counseling; there's no shame in trying to strengthen their relationship. Couples therapy can address the full range of relationship problems, from minor disagreements to major communication problems. It's never too late to seek help from a qualified therapist.
Even if you feel like your relationship is too broken to repair, you'll be surprised how much therapy can help. Any couple can benefit from couples therapy, including same-sex couples, long-married couples, engaged couples, or dating couples. A therapist can help couples overcome financial disagreements, parental frustrations, lack of affection or compassion, infidelity, emotional problems, or even substance abuse. Many couples struggling to overcome the ups and downs of their marriage or romantic relationship can benefit from talking to a counselor who is impartial, fair, and committed to actively listening to both parties and defending the health of their relationship.
Even if couples therapy doesn't result in a repaired marriage or couple, the tools and techniques you learn from your counseling sessions can help you build a strong, healthy relationship with your next partner. If you're in this situation, maybe the following facts about relationship counseling can help you convince your partner to reconsider scheduling an appointment to see a therapist. Whether you've grown apart, have trust issues, or someone has been unfaithful to you, couples counseling can provide you with the information and tools to overcome relationship challenges and strengthen your bond with your partner. It is possible that one of the partners has decided that, no matter what happens, they want to leave; that they do not want to repair the relationship and that counseling is unlikely to help.
The first step in marriage counseling is to eliminate the out-of-control issues that are destroying your relationship. The results of studies on marriage counseling consider marriage counseling to be an effective approach that can significantly reduce marital distress (Dunn & Schwebel, 1995; Shadish &, Baldwin, 200). In short, counseling can help, but relationship partners have to want it to succeed and they must be prepared to be honest with each other and be open to change. This is when many turn to services such as a marriage, relationship or relationship counselor to “save” their relationship.
Sex therapy is a form of relationship counseling that helps couples talk about sex with each other and, hopefully, reignite that old spark.