Couples/Marriage Counseling – Counselors and Therapists in Franklin, MA
Give you and your significant other a chance.
Do you feel that the person whom you once felt closer to than anyone else is now worlds apart from you? Was your life once full of laughter and good times but is now just a repetition of argument after argument? If this describes your present relationship you may feel as if your life together has no hope. However, the professionals at Thriveworks Franklin can help give your relationship a fighting chance.
Some couples find that they can resolve problems on their own and move ahead in their relationship. However, others find that even the slightest disagreements turn into serious issues that last for days, weeks or never seem to end. When a couple gets into a cycle of perpetual blame and resentment, it is difficult to break this cycle without outside help. An outside perspective can clarify the issues objectively and help the couple move on past the issue that is dragging their relationship down. Relationship counseling can breathe new life that otherwise seems doomed to end. It can help promote enhanced communication and mutual respect. The therapists at Thriveworks Franklin have years of training and experience in bringing new perspectives, resolutions to critical issues and healing to relationships in a way that helps both partners feel heard and accepted.
Relationship counseling can take several forms and employ different methods. Types of counseling can include:
- Relationship counseling
- Marriage counseling
- Couples counseling
- Family Therapy
Relationship counseling is the process of helping individuals recognize the source of the difficulties, better manage or reconcile their differences and stop repeating patterns of stress that they may be placing on the relationship. This process my take place between members of a family, partners in a romantic relationship, employees in a workplace, or between a professional and a client. Relationship counseling may focus on a specific issue that the parties involved need help to find an objective solution. Therefore, the process for these brief therapy or solution focused therapy sessions may be short-term lasting between 1 to 6 sessions.
Couple’s therapy is a subset of relationship counseling. Since couples counseling often takes place between individuals in a long-term relationship the process may be longer in duration. The process of couples counseling will often may be between 12 and 24 sessions. The Couples therapy sessions focus on ongoing problems with a longer history, where emotions involved in the problem are often the target and the agent of change.
Marriage counseling or marital therapy is a subset of Couples’ therapy where a lifetime commitment was agreed upon at the onset of the relationship. One or both spouses may feel that an aspect of that commitment has been violated. Or, while both spouses may continue to be committed to the relationship, the spouses’ patterns for dealing with emotionally charged issues make it difficult for them to resolve differences.
Family therapy works with families to nurture change and development. It tends to view change in terms of the systems of interaction between family members. It emphasizes family relationships as an important factor in psychological health.
There are various methods to relationship counseling. One treatment that has shown to be effective is called Integrative Behavioral Couples Therapy. Research has shown Integrative Behavioral Couples Therapy to be effective for 69% of couples in treatment. Integrative Behavioral Couples Therapy focuses on the patterns of interactive behavior between individuals within a relationship. Destructive and maladaptive patterns are identified and replaced with constructive and adaptive patterns.
However, other forms of Relationship therapy have been shown to be effective as well. More traditional models of relationship counseling have been shown to be effective for 50-60% of couples studied. At a five-year follow-up, the marriages of the 134 couples who had participated in couples therapy were helped in 62% of these relationships.
Why Pursue in Relationship Counseling?
It is an unfortunate statistic 50 percent of marriages end in divorce. It is also believed that this statistic would be higher if the breakup of unmarried couples bound together by shared finances, homes and even children were included. Additionally, so many couples find themselves in “emotional divorce.” Though they remain together, the intimacy that they once had is no longer there. They feel distant and unattached from one another. When couples are in this state their emotional ties are severed creating a tense atmosphere in the home and a general feeling of unhappiness for both partners.
Living with another human being requires patience and flexibility. Having to coordinate the issues and problems presented by everyday life with another individual creates the potential for disagreement and discord. It is not hard to see why so many relationships fail. Relationships and families are complicated.
Do any of these issues sound familiar?
- Communication difficulties
- Problems with in-laws and extended family
- Anger issues, yelling, emotionally charged outbursts
- Dependency/co-dependency
- Family planning, whether or not to have children
- Parenting issues and disagreements
- Jealousy, lack of trust
- Unresolved issues from past relationships
- Adultery/infidelity
- Overscheduled lives, “Passing each other in the night”
And this, by no means, is a complete list of issues that relationships face. However, you may have identified one or more issue(s) on this list that applied to you. You may also acknowledge a problem in your relationship that is not on this list but that you know you and your partner need help with.
Feeling miles away from the person that is supposed to be your life partner can be extremely lonely and frustrating. Lying awake at night, sitting in silence at the dinner table, arguing over silly things day after day is no way to live. Unresolved resentment can simmer and grow without help. Dealing with these issues is not easy. But it is possible that with that with the help of a trained and experienced Thriveworks counselor, you may experience a rejuvenation to your relation and bring happiness back into your home.
Why Choose Thriveworks Franklin Counselors?
The relationship, couples, marriage and family therapists at Thriveworks are leaders in the mental health field. They are licensed and trained to deal specifically with the issues in your family, marriage and other relationships. They are respected leaders in their community and have been published in many reputable outlets, such as the Chicago Tribune, Prevention, Psychiatric Times, Atlanta Journal Constitution, and the Journal of Mental Health Counseling. We are ready to put our expertise to work for your relationship.
Thriveworks family and marriage therapists can help you develop the relationships that you want and deserve. Whatever the source of the issues in your relationship, both partners deserve to have respect and happiness, whether together or apart. Discovering the best path for the future of your relationship would be our honor. We have the skills to help you develop new, healthy ways to deal with these problems and develop healthy communication.
Thriveworks does not have a waitlist and appointments are available immediately. So call today. Thriveworks marriage counselors can help you and your partner create the healthy, loving, and respectful relationship that you both desire.
