Couples therapy can be like preventative medicine or major surgery.

 

There is surprisingly little education or information provided for people prior to embarking on intimate love relationships in life. The significance of this oversight becomes obvious when one realizes how important human interaction and relationships are to the vast majority of the human species, and how easily we all have distanced ourselves at times from others or simply failed miserably at communicating with and loving another.

Couples therapy, or marital therapy, is a particular format for psychotherapy which involves a therapist working with two individuals on issues having to do with their relationship or marriage. Sometimes couples come to therapy to address significant problems which could end in divorce, and sometimes they come simply to become better partners and lovers. While both approaches are valid, everyone at BHC of Texarkana is a great proponent of preventative couples work and early intervention when problems arise. It’s never easy for any therapist to hear the words, “I came because she made me, and if it doesn’t work in two weeks I’m filing for divorce.”

Because there are significant differences between the two, it is important to determine during the initial assessment whether to begin individual or couples therapy. When both the individual client and his or her significant relationship are in distress, it can be difficult to know which to address first. When individuals are involved in an intimate relationship, that which affects one obviously affects the other. If one individual becomes depressed, the relationship inevitably suffers. In that case, the individual client’s depression should be addressed prior to including work on the relationship itself. If, however, difficulties in the relationship itself have seemingly resulted in anxiety and/or depression in one or both partners, then the relationship should be addressed first in couples therapy.

Couples therapy is different than individual therapy, both in approach and in desired outcomes. The “client” is the couple rather than either individual, so the therapist remains equally allied with each person. While some therapists will work with a couple after having worked with one of the partners as an individual, BHC of Texarkana therapists believe that the easiest and most effective way to work with a couple is by remaining focused on the relationship itself as the client. Therefore, if during individual therapy a client or therapist feels that couples therapy might be necessary, another Center therapist is utilized to serve as the couples therapist.

 

          Couples Therapy

Lesa Warren, MSW, LCSW, teaches The Psychology of Intimate Relationships at Texas A&M—Texarkana, and periodically holds couples enrichment classes for the general public.

Behavioral Health Center

Of Texarkana