What Exactly is Marriage Counseling?

Marriage counseling is a type of psychotherapy or treatment in which a therapist with educational training and clinical experience working with couples, such as a Licensed Professional Counselor, helps each person in the couple obtain more insight into their relationship, resolve conflict more productively, and improve relationship satisfaction utilizing a variety of therapeutic interventions, assessments, and exercises.

Although the practice of marriage counseling may vary depending on the counselor’s theoretical orientation, most marriage counseling tends to involve the following common elements:

• Identification of a specific problem (poor communication, an affair, control, sexual misunderstandings, etc.)
• Active counselor participation in treating the whole relationship, not just the individual.
• Solution-focused, short term change-oriented interventions employed from the beginning of treatment.
• Clear formation of treatment goals.
• Practice steps to meet these goals.

You’ve decided to get counseling for your marriage. Now what? First, let me congratulate you on being a great investor. You are making the right decision to invest in your relationship, which may pay dividends for your lifetime and that of your children and grandchildren. Second, see how marriage counseling can personally help you make a difference in your marriage.