Are you going through a rough patch with your partner? Are you trying to work things out, but nothing seems to be going right? We’ve all been there. The difference is some couples pull through while others do not. Naturally, some relationships have run their course, and nothing further can be done to heal and help it move forward. However, many relationships just need a helping hand through counselling relationship.
When you and your partner frequently argue or try various solutions, but nothing seems to stick, it can seem like there’s nothing left to do but to go your separate ways. While that may be true for some couples, for many, they simply need a fresh pair of eyes looking into their relationship. This is where therapy plays a crucial role. Relationship counselling offers a wide variety of approaches to help your relationship.
Whether you’re looking to build trust after betrayal, improve communication, or increase intimacy, counseling can help you immensely. Luckily, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to counselling relationship. Rather couples therapy offers a wide range of approaches depending on your goals. Here are the types of couples therapy to help you figure out which one is the best for you.
The Gottman Method
Husband and wife John and Julie Gottman founded this therapy method, based on 40 years of research about behavioral patterns in successful and unsuccessful relationships. They identify the “four horsemen,” which are destructive behaviors. They include stonewalling, contempt, criticism, and defensiveness.
Their therapy method helps couples explore areas of disagreement, various triggers, discover shared values, and provide tools for conflict management. This form of couselling relationship has been found to be highly successful in increasing the overall relationship quality after 10 sessions.
Emotion-focused therapy
Emotion-focused therapy is one of the most researched forms of couples therapy out there. This method has each partner expressing their feelings on a specific problem or event in their relationship. Then, with the therapist, they work to identify and explore the issue at hand. Emotion-focused therapy is particularly good at helping people become more vulnerable and open to expressing deeper emotions.
Discernment counselling
Discernment counselling is a special form of counselling relationship where one partner wants to save the relationship, and the other partner is interested in ending the relationship. This form of therapy is short-term and helps bring clarity to both partners and identify what’s stopping them from entering the couple’s therapy.
Narrative therapy
Narrative therapy is based on the idea that you and your partner individually follow your own thoughts and opinions that shape your decisions and behavior. This form of therapy focuses on correcting self-sabotaging thoughts and changing the narrative. The couple is given an opportunity to see how their thoughts are negatively impacting their relationship.
Imago relationship therapy
When it comes to counselling relationship, we often find that our childhood experiences and trauma directly affect our relationships today. The Imago method sees a couple’s issues as childhood wounds and unmet needs coming to life in adult relationships.
Imago therapy brings those traumas and wounds to the surface so that each person can identify their feelings and behaviors, connecting them to their childhood experiences. By understanding where those feelings and thoughts stem from, change can be made. A study in 2017 found that couples who underwent Imago therapy increased their marital satisfaction after 12 sessions.
Solution-focused therapy
Solution-focused therapy is best suited for couples who are looking to resolve a specific problem. For example, your partner has a behavioral issue that needs attention, or there’s a lack of intimacy in the relationship. Solution-focused therapy aids in reducing couple burnout and helps couples look at the positives in their relationship and future. It’s a very effective form of counselling relationship.
Relationships aren’t easy; however, counselling relationship are meant to help couples identify and repair the issues in their partnership. The methods above will help improve the quality of your relationship if you put in the work. As long as you and your partner want to address the issues, try out one of these methods to help the healing process.
Find out more about the causes and effects of relationship counselling, as well as how you can get started on your journey to a happier and healthier relationship with Cassandra Chiu.