Couples and Marriage Counseling

Couples and Marriage Counseling

When the Beatles wrote, “All you need is love à” they should have added, “and the
wisdom to work through tough times, even if it means seeking professional help.”
This is because counseling can be a relationship-saving resource for couples.

DEFINATION
Marriage counseling, also called couples therapy, is a type of psychotherapy. It helps
couples of all types( regardless of sexual orientation or marriage status). recognize
and resolve conflicts and improve their relationships.

Through marriage counseling, couple can make thoughtful decisions about

rebuilding and strengthening their relationship or going your separate ways

Marriage counseling is often short term

Marriage counseling is generally provided by licensed therapists known as marriage

and family therapists.
Who can benefit from marriage counseling
• Most marriages and other relationships aren't perfect.

• Sometimes specific issues, such as an extramarital affair or

loss of sexual attraction, trigger problems in a relationship.
Other times, there's a gradual disintegration of
communication and caring.

• Bad relationship may only worsen and eventually lead to

physical or psychological problems, such as depression. It can
also create problems on the job and affect other family
members or even friendships as people feel compelled to take
sides.
 Common Problems that Marriage Counselors
Can Help With
• Remarriage and Blended Families
• Family of Origin Problems
• Mental Health Problems
• Grief
• Physical Health Changes
• Addictions
• Infidelity
• Lifestyle Changes
• Parenting Disagreements
• Communication Problems
• Not Feeling in Love
• Strengthening bonds
• Marriage counseling can also help couples who simply want to
strengthen their bonds and gain a better understanding of each
other
 Role Conflict
• Role conflict is the disharmony that occurs when two roles create
conflicting demands on an individual and make it difficult for that
individual to adequately perform one or both of the role
• Attending parents meeting in child school or attending important
meeting in the office

There are two types of role conflict:

• Intrarole conflict,
• Referring to incompatible requirements within the same role,

Interrole conflict,
Referring to clashing expectations from separate roles within the
same person.

• I
 Intrarole conflict
• Intrarole conflict can arise in two ways.
• When different people sometimes have inconsistent conceptions
concerning the requirements and expectations that constitute a
particular role

• Intrarole conflict can also occur when the role itself has
contradictory expectations or requirements

• Interrole conflict arises when the requirements and expectations

of one role interfere or conflict with those of another role

• The experience of role conflict has been associated with negative

health, psychological, social, and work related outcomes.
 Work or family…? Huge conflict in working population
• Earlier men and women's sense of self was based on quite different societal
roles. Work for men, and family was the identity defining role for women
• Over the past three decades, there have been significant changes in
society's ideas of gender, work roles, and parenting, especially over the
world of work and nature of the family.
• Market competition has increased pressure on organizations and employers
leading to long hours, increased workload, job insecurity, uncertainty and
stress for the employees in most of the jobs.
• Work-family conflict (WFC) is a complex construct having multiple forms
(time-based, strain-based and behavior-based) and operating in multiple
domains (work and family) and is bidirectional.
• Work-family conflict is defined as “a form of inter-role conflict in which role
pressures from the work and family domains are mutually incompatible in
some respect”, meaning that “participation in the work (family) role is made
more difficult by virtue of participation in the family (work) role”
 Work-family conflict
• Time based WFC arises when multiple roles compete for a person's time
• It can take two forms, (1) time pressures associated with membership in one role
may make it physically impossible to comply with expectations arising from another
role;
• (2) pressures also may produce a preoccupation with one role even when one is
physically attempting to meet the demands of another role
• Strain-based conflict exists when strain in one role affects one's performance in
another role
• Third form is the behavior based WFC. Specific patterns of in-role behavior may be
incompatible with expectations regarding behavior in another role
• It could be work to family conflict (W to FC) or family to work conflict (F to WC).
• which ultimately can affect the physical and psychological wellbeing,
• WFC is directly related to the number of hours worked per week, amount and
frequency of overtime, irregularity of shifts and inflexibility in work schedule
 Gay & Lesbian Relationships and Marital Conflict
• Gay relationships and lesbian relationships have unique strengths and
challenges.
• LGBT couples and heterosexual couples often share similar relationship problems
such as poor communication, lack of intimacy, not feeling heard or appreciated,
affairs, sex, money, and issues concerning differences in parenting and issues
regarding children.
• Although LGBT couples may share some of these, there are other issues related
specifically to being LGBT that may also be addressed in therapy. These may
include but not be limited to:
• Dealing with discrimination (from family, friends, at the workplace),
• Religious discrimination
• Sexual issues
• Legal discrimination
• Adoption
• Gender issues
• gender dysphoria
• rossdressing or transitioning.
Marriage Enrichment
 Marriage Enrichment skills
• Marriage enrichment is viewed as a philosophy, a process, and a
variety of programs.
• The philosophy of marriage enrichment is based on a positive,
growth-oriented, dynamic view of marriage which suggests that
people and relationships have strengths and resources which can be
tapped and developed.

• The process of marriage enrichment has three major theoretical

bases:--The Rogerian emphasis on providing an empathic
environment
• The behavioral emphasis on learning and practicing specificskills
• The use of group process for providing a safe learning environment.

• Marriage enrichment programs teach spouses interpersonal skills in

communication and conflict resolution
 Marriage Enrichment skills
• Marriage enrichment is a form of primary prevention in the area of
human relationships.It is not primarily for problem marriages, but
it is for married couples who want their marriage to grow

• Marriage enrichment uses multiple techniques to provide

opportunities for couple growth. The focus of most enrichment
events is each couple's marriage.

• One such technique is the couple dialogue, where one spouse turns
to the other and talks about their relationship while other couples in
the group listen.

• Much of marriage enrichment depends upon peer relationship in a

supportive environment.