Couples
What is it
Couples therapy helps couples who experience problems such
as communication difficulties, lack of intimacy or sexual dissatisfaction. The
goal of couples therapy is to improve functioning in couples who experience
distress in the relationship, improve the quality of the relationship and
increase the satisfaction of the couple. It provides a safe environment for
partners to explore their feelings and emotions and confront their problems.
Partner therapy provides clarity and identifies those areas where misunderstandings
or lack of appreciation of the other couple's perspectives, desires or needs
are causing distress or frustration. Partner therapy helps couples experiencing
difficulties to communicate effectively, address their problems and move
forward.
What includes
Partner therapy helps couples identify behavior patterns in
their relationship, identify problems that contribute to misunderstanding or
lack of communication, negotiate areas of difference or disagreement and
improve communication at all levels. Other problems that could be addressed in
couples therapy include parenting, sexual difficulties, financial matters,
relationships with the extended family and the challenges that arise when
creating and maintaining combined families.
Partner therapy can also help in the development of emotion
regulation, which is important for resolving relationship conflicts. Emotion
regulation is the ability to improve one's mood when feeling depressed or
experiencing some other form of negative emotion such as frustration, anger or
hostility. Research indicates that couples who are able to regulate their
emotions work better than those who have less emotional control (Scott et al.,
2014) and may feel better faster when they face disagreements or conflicts
(Bloch et al., 2014). More generally, it has been found that couples
experiencing positive emotions are better to calm down, an important ability to
maintain individual balance and harmony of the relationship (Yuan et al.,
2010).
OUR SERVICES
How a psychologist can help
If effective communication has become difficult between you
and your partner, it may be appropriate to seek help from a psychologist with
experience in partner therapy. Although different psychologists may employ a
variety of appropriate therapeutic approaches for each couple and each
situation, most will focus on the following five underlying principles that
have been identified as fundamental to effective couples therapy:
Improving communication with the relationship.
Help partners to change their views of the relationship and
to be more objective in their evaluations of what happens within the
relationship.
Modify problematic behaviors within the relationship.
Decreased emotional avoidance and encourage attachment
between couples
Taking advantage of the strengths that each partner brings
to the relationship and the strength of the relationship itself (Benson, McGinn
and Christensen, 2012)
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