Understanding the Need for Couples Therapy in New York
4 min read
Admitting that things are not going right in your relationship is a big step. Couples often feel scared and ashamed to admit that their relationship is failing. It can involve a considerable effort to feel comfortable talking about what’s going wrong.
Couples therapy in New York is for couples who are in a relationship, married or not. The goal of couples’ therapy is to improve the couples’ relationship. Because this therapy is focused on the relationship, it can help couples decide whether or not they should continue staying together.
What is Couple’s Therapy?
Couple’s therapy, often known as marriage counseling, is often provided by licensed therapists. These therapists are also called marriage and family therapists who have postgraduate degrees mostly credentialed by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT).
In the process of couples counseling, a psychotherapy is done where a licensed therapist with clinical experience working with couples helps two people involved in a romantic relationship achieve relationship goals such as:
- Gaining insight into their relationship
- Resolving conflict
- Improving relationship satisfaction
The marriage therapist uses a variety of therapeutic interventions throughout the therapy depending on the theoretical orientation of the therapist. These general elements are often involved in the process:
- A focus on a specific problem (i.e. sexual difficulties, internet addiction, jealousy)
- Active participation on the part of the therapist in treating the relationship itself, rather than each individual separately.
- Solution-focused, change-oriented interventions early on in treatment
- A clear establishment of treatment objectives
How Successful is Couple’s Therapy?
The success rate of marriage counseling or couple’s therapy is largely variable depending on the skill of the therapist and the unique factors associated with the couple. Traditional marriage counseling has a success rate of 70 to 80 percent.
In another research conducted by the American Association of Marriage and Family, “more than 97{338b264e346154b76c5f5a4c73594fff32639b2d7c5c4a5fd64bdd919768fe3e} of surveyed couples said they got help they needed from couples therapy and 93{338b264e346154b76c5f5a4c73594fff32639b2d7c5c4a5fd64bdd919768fe3e} of couples aid therapy gave them more effective tools for dealing with conflict.
Why is Couple’s Therapy Being Done?
There are many reasons why couples choose to go through marriage counseling in New York. Here are some of the issues in relationships that Psychology Today outlined where a couple could potentially benefit from relationship counseling:
- Trust has been broken.
Most couples go through couples therapy because they need help in overcoming a major breach of trust. Circumstances that this situation happens include:
- Infidelity in the form of sex
- Emotional affair
- Series of lies or deception about money
Relationship therapists can help rebuild the trust that was lost by establishing a forum in which both parties are given the freedom to express their vulnerability.
- More frequent arguments.
When couples experience a conflict-oriented relationship whether they are “small” arguments or huge blowouts, therapists suggest couple’s therapy. The pattern of the increase is considered more important than the intensity of the conflict.
This scenario could indicate significant problems that are way beneath the surface which haven’t been dealt with for a very long time. Hence, it is best to have couples therapy before the risk worsens.
- Poor communication
Relationships can be strained because either one or both parties constantly feel misunderstood or ignored or there is a feeling of not knowing what is happening with each other lately. This can leave a feeling of estrangement.
A relationship therapist can help a couple overcome these feelings during couples therapy. The tangible outcomes of the process with this relationship issue includes:
- Increase in communication
- A major improvement in the quality of communication
- Much better connection,listening, and understanding on a daily basis
- Emotional intimacy is gone or deeply diminished.
Couple’s sometimes feel like the “spark” is gone after being with each other for a long time. They may feel more like they are roommates rather than soulmates. Some of the reasons the emotional intimacy fades is because of the grind of daily life that has taken its toll on the ability to connect. Most often, marriage therapy can help the couples in re-prioritizing.
- Physical intimacy and sexual issues
Skilled marriage counselors can help couples start working on sexual issues that can either be a symptom or a cause of identified relationship problems. Here are situations where marriage therapists can help:
- Physical intimacy problems and sexual issues is at the forefront of a couple’s day-to-day complaints
- The change in intimacy is obvious and frustrating where a couple goes from frequent to none
- A gradual freeze from being fulfilled by each other sexually to barely being satisfied
- More overt conflict with one partner expressing frustration, a partner constantly being rejected, or sex is used as a bargaining tool
Consider Couple’s Therapy in New York
The above mentioned issues where a professional marriage therapist can help through couple’s therapy in New York are only five of a long list of reasons why couples therapy can be most beneficial. Any relationship can find couples therapy an opportunity to address relationship expectations and to regain a sense of excitement and romance in their relationship.
