Why couples consider therapy, and why it works
Therapy isn’ t just for relationship problems in crisis – it can also offer support for all sorts of normal life changes and difficulties and help you and your partner get closer by improving your communication skills. Bringing a third party into the picture can shed light on factors causing dysfunction without shaming either party; differences that might otherwise feel impossible to tackle together can be much easier to handle when you have the support of a therapist. If worrying about bringing up tough topics with your partner feels too risky, it’s worth considering whether you could benefit from having both of you the therapeutic room and support to breathe and work out how each of you sees things.
Improve communication
A therapist can help you develop skills for communicating effectively with others. You may find yourself feeling frustrated if your partner doesn’t respond to what you say, or if they interrupt you during an important conversation. In these situations, you might feel tempted to react angrily or defensively. However, learning how to pause before responding can help you avoid saying things you regret later. You can practice being mindful of your thoughts and feelings, and then choosing the right response instead of blurting out something hurtful.
Discussing out in the open
As your relationship with yourself changes naturally over time, so too will your understanding of what it means to be intimate with another person. You may find yourself in uncharted territory as your relationship with yourself evolves into something new. A therapist can help you explore your feelings around intimacy and sexuality and offer guidance on how to communicate them effectively with others.
Infidelity and other issues
We often feel guilty about our past mistakes and failures, especially if we’ve hurt someone else. But what happens when those mistakes and failures affect us? What happens when they’re not just mistakes and failures, but also part of who we are? How do we deal with them? Therapy can help us understand how we’ve affected others and ourselves and learn ways to change our behavior so that we can live healthier lives.
It’s all about boundaries
Boundaries are important to any relationship. They’re especially important within relationships where one party may feel they’ve given too much of themselves already. When we give our hearts to someone else, we often forget about ourselves. We begin to lose sight of who we really are, and what we stand for. In order to keep our own identities intact, we must set limits around how far we’ll go with others.
