Nurturing A Long-Term Relationship: The Benefits Of Couples Counseling
Posted on: 15 April 2015
If you were to survey hundreds of couples that have been happily married for many years, you will likely receive hundreds of different answers regarding how they have made it work for so long. After all, no two relationships are exactly the same. However, you would also notice several trends in the answers that you receive, such as the need for good communication and trust.
It is these core values that couples counseling helps to strengthen so that you can truly nurture your long-term relationship:
Learning To Communicate Effectively
Conflict is a part of all relationships, both romantic and platonic. No matter how much you love someone, there will be times that you disagree. When these times occur, it is vital that you are able to communicate your feelings effectively. Unfortunately, are too many people become defensive when conflict presents itself and will therefore be unable to communicate their true feelings.
When choosing to participate in couples counseling, you and your partner will learn to address conflict without the need for aggressive or blaming statements. Instead, you will learn to use statements that take responsibility for your own feelings rather than assigning blame to the cause of these feelings. This can help to prevent your partner from feeling defensive and ultimately resulting in a serious argument.
For example, if you are feeling unappreciated due to the demands that are put on you each day within your household dynamic, you may accuse your partner of making you feel this way. This is not an effective way of communicating. However, through couples counseling, you can learn to address this issue by telling your partner that you feel unappreciated and believe it would help if they could assist you in completing tasks around the house each day.
This not only allows you to take responsibility for your feelings, but it also gives them a clear idea of how they can help so that action can be taken to rectify the situation rather than simply trying to move past it.
Building And Maintaining Trust
The ability to trust your partner is essential to living a long and happy life together. Unfortunately, past sins can make it difficult for many people to build or maintain trust, even when these sins were committed by a previous lover or family member.
Through the use of couples counseling, partners can learn to understand the obstacles that have prevented them from building trust in the past and use exercises, such as role play, to help them overcome these obstacles.
One of the ways in which many relationship counselors will help couples to develop trust is by asking them to take part in exercises where they are required to disclose information that they have chosen to keep secret. By allowing these feelings to be shared in a safe environment, each partner is able to express themselves without the fear of being judged. Each time that their partner responds in a loving and accepting manner, another building block is added to their foundation of trust.
To learn more, contact a company like Blue Spruce Counseling with any questions or concerns you have.
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