Couples’ therapy is a form of therapy designed to manage relationship issues, improve relationships, and enhance well-being in partners’ interactions. This psychological intervention can help partners communicate more effectively, understand their needs and emotions better, and develop strategies to manage and overcome difficulties. Couples’ therapy can address various issues such as infidelity, communication problems, personality differences, sexual issues, stress, and other relationship difficulties. It can benefit couples in crisis as well as those seeking to prevent long-term issues.
Sessions are held between the couple and the psychologist, are scheduled periodically (based on the clients’ needs and the psychologist’s recommendations), and last approximately 50–60 minutes.
Couples’ psychotherapy and counseling are often used interchangeably, but there are subtle differences between the two, mainly related to the depth and purpose of interventions (guided by the client’s needs and collaboratively set goals with the psychologist).
Couples’ Psychotherapy
Couples’ psychotherapy focuses on deep and complex issues that affect the relationship and the couple’s dynamics. These may include traumas, mental health issues, infidelity, and other difficulties. This form of psychological intervention requires regular meetings over a longer period and uses techniques aimed at addressing distress, vulnerability, and psychological “wounds” in the case of both partners.
Couples’ Counseling
Couples’ counseling aims to improve communication within the couple, resolve conflicts, enhance the couple’s daily functioning, and increase well-being in couple interactions. This form of intervention tends to be shorter-term and focuses on specific goals. The techniques employed in this type of counselling center around developing communication skills and problem-solving skills.