What is Marriage Counseling? Near Houston: The Woodlands & League City

How Marriage, Couples & Relationship Counseling in League City Can Help

Alyssa A. Hanzon, MFT-I @ Therapy For Families

What Is Marriage, Couples, and Relationship Counseling?

Relationships of all kinds exist in the world. Inevitably, every relationship will at some point experience hardship and challenge. No partnership is perfect or without inadequacies. Some of those difficult times are easily navigated. Other moments are painfully overwhelming and may appear to be unresolvable.

Occasionally, an urgent concern may suddenly arise in which individuals more clearly realize they must learn better skills to repair their relationship connections, rebuild closeness and trust, or simply learn to more amicably interact. 

Whether you are married, cohabitating, co-parenting, dating, or just starting to build a brand-new connection with someone, you are in a partnership - or relationship - with that person. And, if you are currently experiencing trouble in your efforts to positively relate or have beneficial interactions in your relationship, then counseling can potentially provide you with therapeutic relief and give you support in formulating helpful skills to cope with the difficulties you are facing. Utilizing the mediating presence of a counselor can be a helpful tool to assist and guide you through these relational processes. 

What Does Counseling Look Like For Any Partnership?

The approach to relationship counseling can vary among individual therapists. However, it is common at the beginning of therapy to have a period of assessment for the first several sessions. This will include a joint session held with both individuals, followed by one-on-one sessions with each partner.

The assessment sessions allow the counselor to view the current relational dynamic, try to assess the situation from each partner’s perspective, and identify the details of what they are individually experiencing within the relationship. A counselor is interested in clearly understanding both sides and then ultimately prioritizing the health of the “relationship” between the two parties. In essence, the “relationship” is the client.

Relationship counseling also includes bringing the couple back together for additional joint sessions in which they can identify and set partnership goals together, create an agreed upon treatment plan, and establish any necessary therapeutic maintenance sessions. 

What Problems Can Marriage, Couples, and Relationship Counseling Help With?

Meeting with a relationship counselor has many advantages. On a personal level, it can help each individual better understand themself and how they relate to their partner. It can also assist with identifying and managing emotions, increasing emotional regulation skills, better understanding conflict and effective resolution of it, increasing healthy communication, and gently addressing past hurts. Above all, relationship counseling can be a first step in fully committing to the process of repairing the fragmented parts of the relationship.

Common Marriage, Couples, and Relationship Counseling Modalities?

Some of the common therapeutic modalities or couples counseling approaches include The Gottman Method, Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT), and Sex Therapy.  

The Gottman Method is widely known and is a common relationship counseling modality. Studies have demonstrated its validity and effectiveness. This method was developed by psychologist and researcher John Gottman who studied recognizable patterns in happy and unhappy marriages. The Gottman Method approach involves improving empathy in relationships, enhancing communication and intimacy, strengthening the underlying friendship between partners, improving conflict management, and seeking to create a deeper sense of shared meaning and connection between partners.

Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) is also considered a highly effective approach for couples in need of relationship support. In fact, it is often acknowledged as the gold standard in proven therapeutic interventions. Clinical Psychologist and researcher Sue Johnson developed this form of couples therapy which targets improving the relationship through better understanding of individual attachment needs and wounds, recognizing and utilizing the power of emotions and vulnerability, employing empathizing communication skills, and deepening the couple relationship through greater accessibility and responsiveness.

Sex Therapy is a more specific form of psychotherapy for couples that is designed to help address individual or relational factors that may be impacting or obstructing sexual satisfaction. These factors may include influences such as medical concerns, psychological issues, personal barriers, or interpersonal dynamics. This form of relationship counseling can be helpful in finding ways to move past any physical and emotional challenges in order to attain a more desired level of satisfaction and pleasure within the intimate partnership.

We conveniently have therapists in The Woodlands, League City, and multiple locations near Houston. We also can see clients online in any of our Online Locations in Texas, South Dakota, Utah, and Florida. We would love to be part of your healing process, contact us today!

References

https://www.gottman.com/about/the-gottman-method/

https://drsuejohnson.com/

Https://www.verywellmind.com/sex-therapy-5191859