It’s never always easy to admit that you feel your relationship is failing or that you and your partner might benefit from couples therapy sessions. Having a healthy relationship with your partner that encourages growth and love can only benefit both of you. This doesn’t mean that your relationship should always be easy and there should never be disagreement. Yet, there are red flags that may make you want to consider broaching couples therapy with your partner. Choosing the right couples therapist could put you on a path towards a relationship that has harmony instead of harmfulness.
One of the first reasons that someone would traditionally think of attending a couples therapist would be for issues of fighting within the relationship. Bickering and disagreements are part of human existence. Some of us are strong-willed and even more strongly opinionated. This can be a recipe for problems in a relationship. If you and your partner have moved from occasional disagreements to daily fights and bickering over trivial (or not so trivial) matters and it’s become a frequent problem; it may be time to consider therapy. The stress involved in constant arguments isn’t healthy and working to find a way to resolve issues and harvest better communication can be the answer.
Another reason for couples therapy may be because you and your partner have a disconnect in your abilities to communicate with each other. Having open, honest communication with your partner only helps to create a healthy relationship. If you feel that you are being constantly ignored or brushed off by your partner, you should be able to communicate your feelings with them. A therapist can help to better understand where your communications are failing between you both. They then can help you to create a partnership in which you both hear, listen and understand each other better.
Couples therapy is especially necessary if you feel there has been a break in the trust you felt for your partner. Trust is the base on which a couple builds their relationship, so any cracks in that foundation can be a major threat. Broken trust can come in the forms of money issues, emotional problems, infidelity, and other problems. Restoring broken trust isn’t always easy but working through things with a therapist can help. You should also consider visiting a couples therapist if you feel that you want to field other issues that you can’t place a finger on. This can manifest when you are feeling a disconnect towards your partner but don’t know how to go about addressing it. Your couples therapist can work to get to the root of the issue and help with resolving it.
If you feel that your relationship would benefit from a couples therapy session you can schedule a visit with Dr. Yvonne Thomas, Ph.D. or request a free consultation by calling (310) 359-9450. Dr. Thomas has over twenty years of experience in counseling and has flexible hours to meet your needs.
