Every relationship goes through a rough patch. Sometimes these difficult seasons are the result of one or both parties in the marriage, but at other times life just happens and a couple finds themselves feeling disconnected or unhappy. Regardless of how you find yourself going through a tough spot, help is available through marriage counseling.

Get connected with a Christian Counselor
Please contact our reception team at
(424) 438-2888

Can You Tell Me What Marriage Counseling Is?

Marriage counseling is a form of psychotherapy or talk therapy that can help you and your partner improve or rebuild your relationship. Marriage counseling helps couples understand the conflicts and difficulties in the relationship, providing them with insight and tools to resolve those tensions and cultivate a healthy, mutually fulfilling relationship.

Couples have a broad range of concerns and questions that affect their relationship. Some of the concerns that can be addressed in marriage counseling include the following:

  • Recurring conflict in the relationship
  • Feelings of disconnection and lack of emotional intimacy
  • Infidelity and affairs
  • Misalignment in your values and beliefs
  • Setting goals as a couple
  • Anger issues
  • Grief and loss
  • Roles in the relationship
  • Addictions, chemical dependency, and substance abuse
  • Lack of sexual intimacy
  • Dealing with external stressors such as work or in-laws and their effect on the relationship
  • Finances, including transparency around your income and spending habits
  • Children, including whether to have them, as well as stress from struggles with conceiving.
  • Health issues such as mental or physical illness, as well as how to support one another through illness

When you come for marriage counseling, you can expect for the counselor to get to know you and your spouse. This helps to build trust and a collaborative relationship, as well as create space to outline your goals for counseling. Typically, marriage counseling is done with both spouses present, but in some circumstances, your counselor might want to meet with each spouse.

You will likely explore your past for insight into your motivations, fears, conflicts, and behaviors in the relationship. This can be difficult and painful, but it helps get to the root of the issues. Your counselor will also help you and your partner identify your feelings and develop a vocabulary to express them well.

Marriage counseling is not about assigning blame, but rather identifying solutions, building on your strengths to cultivate healthy behaviors that support your marriage. Your counselor will teach you and your spouse skills such as how to listen empathetically, problem-solve and resolve conflict effectively. Sometimes, they may give you work to do outside the sessions to develop these skills further.

Your counselor might use several forms of therapy to help you improve your friendship and level of intimacy by focusing on the positive aspects and strengths of your relationship. Possible methods include:

  • Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) which aims at improving the emotional bonds between you and your spouse.
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) which involves identifying and substituting unhealthy thought patterns that negatively influence behavior with positive and healthy ones.
  • Psychodynamic Couple’s Therapy which explores the at-times unexpressed hopes and fears that motivate you and your spouse, to help you gain a better understanding of one another.

There are many benefits to marriage counseling, such as helping you and your spouse understand each other better, helping you feel more connected to your feelings, improving the connection you feel to your spouse, and helping you feel more secure in your relationship.

Marriage counseling can also improve your communication skills, which makes a huge difference in handling conflict, identifying issues proactively, and building a stronger friendship between you and your spouse. By cultivating deeper intimacy and dealing effectively with the dysfunctional behavior that hampers your relationship, you can improve your sense of enjoyment and satisfaction in your relationship.

Conclusion

Marriage can be a complex and difficult relationship to navigate. Sometimes the challenges can seem hard to manage on your own, and your marriage suffers as a result. However, it’s possible to begin working on these challenges to build a healthy, strong marriage. Loma Linda Christian Counseling can help you and your spouse work through your concerns and any issues that stand in the way of your marriage flourishing.

If you want to find a Christian counselor in the Loma Linda area, consider Loma Linda Christian Counseling. Through the use of effective counseling techniques rooted in a Christian faith-based outlook, the counselors at Loma Linda Christian Counseling can help your marriage thrive. Please contact us for a risk-free trial session.

Get connected with a Christian Counselor
Please contact our reception team at
(424) 438-2888