In some situations that find you and your significant other struggling to get along with no end to the rough patch in sight, seeking relationship help in the form of a licensed marriage counselor can be the first step toward healing. This is easier said than done, however; many people find it harder to start seeing a couples counselor than to go to an individual therapist, even though marriage counseling has been proven to reward the couples who are willing to brave the sessions for the sake of saving their relationship.
If you’re considering couples therapy, you probably have a lot of questions about what will happen during the sessions and what outcome you can reasonably expect. Therapist Mendim Zhuta, LMFT, of Therapy Now - Zhuta Enterprises,
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The amount of time the therapy lasts will depend on the individualized treatment plan that your counselor has drawn up after listening to and assessing your needs. During the initial session, your therapist will go over the therapeutic process and the confidentiality policy, and will listen to you and your significant other tell him in turn about the reasons why you came. He’ll likely ask a number of questions to help himself understand various elements of your lives and relationship issues. Both you and your partner should expect to feel comfortable speaking with this person (if you don’t, that’s a good indication that this particular therapist is not right for you).
Over the course of your therapy, you and your partner will work with the counselor to set realistic goals for your relationship. These might be anything from learning to communicate better during a fight to learning active listening skills. Your counselor will work with you by using a variety of therapeutic techniques, many of which you’ll be asked to try on your own at home, until you’re satisfied that you’ve found a solution to the problem or until you or the therapist decides to end the treatment
Gurman, A. S. (2008). Clinical handbook of couple therapy (4th ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Targeting one goal and one problem at a time. Making therapy brief is also a belief and some cases or sessions last no longer than 6 months. Another belief is that it is okay for the therapist to “push” or “bump” the clients or family into interactional pattern or relational pattern, which maintains their problem into a pattern, and allows the family to divest themselves of the problem seem appropriate (Gardner, Burr, & Wiedower, 2006). The main belief that strategic therapy is based on is that there is a strategy, a plan, a tactic, whatever the case maybe to help create change. A marriage counselor may strive on the belief that love, faith, and hope can save a marriage in chaos. Each therapist and family may have different beliefs but will strive for a healthier change.
During treatment Cognitive-Behavioral Couple Therapy (CBCT) and Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy (IBCT) will use feedback sessions to help assess how the couple is doing in a positive way (Gurman, 2008). Both CBCT and IBCT both use conflict and emotional expressions as avenues for couples to express their affection and understanding for one another (Gurman, 2008). Both CBCT and IBCT also have the same value system of creating a general closeness and intimacy between partners (Gurman, 2008). Regardless of the differences, the two therapies have the general
Marriage and family therapists believe that the family patterns may affect an individual’s psychological and physical well being and therefore need to be part of therapy. During a therapy session even if only one person is being interviewed, the therapists focuses on a set of relationships that the person is embedded in. The entire family is involved in solving clients problems regardless of whether the issue in individual or family.
Cognitive behavioral therapy partner has focused on the detailed analysis of everyday conflicts that can lead to the breakdown of the relationship; it has been raised how problems arise, and how they are maintained. It has identified a feature which is associated with them generally, a predominance of negative interactions on positive. With the obvious aim of achieving an effective intervention, it has raised the ways to overcome them focusing on increasing the exchange of positive behaviors and improving communication and problem solving.
Gottman couples therapy is an integrative approach that focuses on emotion, behavior, cognitive, and narrative approaches with in a systemic framework (Gottman & Gottman, 2013). This therapy is based on extensive research about how stable relationships work and how unstable relationships fail. The goal of Gottman therapy is to help couple process their inevitable fights, moments of miscommunication, or hurt feelings and to enable them to repair the relationship (Gottman & Gottman, 2013). Moreover, the goal is to “heal the wounds crated by regrettable incidents” (Gottman & Gottman, 2013, p. 95).
Of course, when contemplating marriage counseling, you will want to find a therapists with a specialty or interest in marriage and family relational issues.
But it is not the traditional type of counseling that most couples do. They still attend a 'Couples Retreat' and the one that they go to has a 90 percent success rate with repairing marriages.
Lebow (2006) stated that currently couples therapy is on a roll more than it was 20 years ago, as it has become more accepted by the general public. This article revealed some unique insight into different aspects of why some couples are satisfied, or succeed at remaining together and why some couples are not satisfied, or do not remain together. Learning information from an article of this nature would benefit me as a marriage counselor because I feel it would be important to know what new advances are being
During today's session, client and therapist worked on establishing a therapeutic rapport by discussing roles and responsibilities as his therapist and addressing clients goals and intentions for therapy. Client states that he plans to complete individual therapy and work towards getting his family back
After reading two articles it was interesting to note the differences and similarities between the two intellectual and highly respected individuals within the field of Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT). Each makes many valid points yet with such opposing viewpoints. By taking a closer look at some specific areas one may see that though these men have different beliefs on how treatment should be conducted, there are also some parallels. Some of the topics will include the history and future of Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT), what they agree and disagree on along with the challenges each has dealt with. Finally the author of this paper will provide insight as to what this means for her as she begins her journey to becoming a Marriage and Family therapist.
Marriage Counseling is one of the best ways to solve marital hitches than working them out alone. Having another opinion, sometimes if the best thing couples need. Robert Bringle and Diane Byers wrote is full detail in “Intentions to Seek Marriage Counseling” about how intentions to seek marriage counseling have many differences and similarities based on the spouse’s attitudes (299-304). Bringle and Byers believe, “Typically, persons seek marriage counseling after they decided to act on perceived need” (Bringle and Byers 299, par. 6). Reese Danley Kilgo, author of “Counseling Couples in Groups: Rationale and Methodology,” describes how counseling in groups is one of the most recent development in psychotherapy and marriage counseling (377). Kilgo believes that “Counseling is the use of this relationship to facilitate problem-solving and to teach interpersonal relationship skills” (377). Knowing more about your spouse can create a better relationship, though the knowledge about their personality. Kilgo states that “Marriage counseling requires couples to have self- understanding and acceptance; problem solving; improve personal relationship and greater happiness overall” (377). One of the major keys to counseling is that the counselor is efficient and that their skills in creating the relationship
Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy focusses on the feelings that impact behavior. The importance is on receptiveness of the couple to the emotional needs that arise when discussing their issues and finding solutions to the conflicts. A couple is helped to recognize and understand their connection and need for attachment. This therapy is centered on the theory that couples childhood experiences strongly influence the couple’s behavior in the relationship. In order for this therapy to be effective the professionals in the human service field must be competent in many facets. They must be able to use non-verbal and verbal skills of communication, use reflective techniques and ask closed and open ended questions. In addition the counselor
The therapist can assign the client with homework on how to resolve issues using strategies shared during the session and to set objectives (Jinks, 2006; Feltham and Horton, 2012); it will be important to do these assignments, as they will help the client advance. It will also be useful to keep a journal, highlighting what occurred before the incident and outcomes, which can be talked about at follow-up session (Jinks; Feltham and
An important question to ask when meeting with a couple for the first time is if the couple had ever been to therapy before? The couple’s response will provide Dr. Heitler with an understanding as to why the couple is seeking therapy as well as provide her with a reason(s) why their previous counseling sessions were unsuccessful.