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Whether you've been together for five months or five years, maintaining a happy and healthy relationship or marriage takes some serious work. From never ending shouting matches to giving the silent treatment, fighting all of the time can be physically, mentally and emotionally draining. There's no question that all relationships need maintaining, but figuring out how to do it is sometimes easier said than done.
But once the constant conflicts start getting to you (and they will), you've got to figure out another plan.
So before you do anything, you need to ask yourself this question:
Do you believe that your relationship is worth fighting for?
If you answered yes without hesitation, then couples counseling is definitely your best move. So here's the deal. Getting help from an outside source doesn't mean that you're weak. There is NOTHING wrong with you.
The problem is that no relationship is perfect, no matter how much we want them to be. We've all been through incredibly different times where we honestly felt like our love wouldn't make it.
In fact, YourTango's Founder/CEO Andrea Miller, Imago Institute's Harville Hendrix and Helen Lakelly Hunt, Family Therapist Joyce Fine, LPC Jamie Simkins Rogers and the Relationship Help Doctor Dr. Rhoberta Shaler back this up by outlining the amazing benefits of couples counseling.
How can you use couples therapy to improve your relationship?
Even though society often paints counseling in a negative light, there are scientific studies that refute that.
The UCLA Newsroom conducted a study with 134 couples, with whom they met over the course of 26 therapy sessions. They actually found that "When the therapy sessions were over, about two-thirds of the couples overall had shown significant clinical improvement." How's that for great news?
They even took things a step further by choosing couples who "were consistently unhappy [because they didn't want] couples who would get better on their own. We excluded almost 100 couples who wanted couple therapy but who did not meet our criteria of consistent and serious distress."
After the experiment was over, they followed up with the couples every six months for five years straight, finding that the sessions actually worked. Listening to our own experts discuss just how effective couples counseling is will put any of your remaining doubts to rest.
If the going gets tough, it may be time to call in some reinforcements.
At the end of the day, if there's even a slight chance that it'll improve your love life, increase intimacy and re-ignite those sparks, why wouldn't you give it a try?
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