Sonya Jensen, Marriage and Family Therapist, MA

Couples counseling, also referred to as couples therapy or marital counseling, can help people assess and better understand fractures in their relationships. A couples counselor may ask partners to determine what problems they are facing. Couples counselors may instruct each partner to describe their underlying emotions, experiences, and beliefs in detail. This process may be performed with both partners in the same room or just one at a time. The goal of this exercise is for partners to gain greater understanding of each other's needs and to create solutions for these needs to be met. For example, a couple may arrive at the conclusion that one partner's work schedule leads the other to feel neglected or overwhelmed. Then, couples might implement strategies such as increased communication and partner agreements. These strategies may address previous conflicts as well as prevent new ones from occurring.

In some instances, couples counselors may recommend individual therapy for one or both partners. Individual therapy can address mental health problems that negatively impact the relationship. With continued counseling, people can restore communication and may gain greater understanding of one another's needs, enabling them to better develop solutions for these needs to be properly met.

Closely related to family therapy, couples therapy is a type of counseling that seeks to help couples improve their relationship. A therapist may teach each partner in the relationship specific skills, such as managing or expressing their emotions, conflict resolution, communication skills, and problem solving. Both people in the couple need to be committed to learning new skills themselves as well as putting effort into supporting the relationship. The typical goals of couples therapy are to decrease conflict, unhappiness, and resentment, as well as increase communication, intimacy, and connection.

Couples therapy may be offered privately, at a university, or in a group practice. It is usually short-term therapy, lasting a few weeks until the participants have learned new skills and have the ability to repair their relationship. Its effectiveness depends on the willingness of both participants to commit to therapy and make the relationship a priority. For many couples it can be extremely helpful.

During sex therapy, individuals or couples will talk about their sexual issue and their background. It is common to be given exercises to work on outside of therapy to improve communication, intimacy, or physical response. Sometimes these exercises bring up strong emotions, and then those emotions can be discussed during therapy. The goals of sex therapy are usually to obtain reliable information about sex, to improve verbal and physical communication between a couple, and to improve sexual performance.

Because of the nature of sex therapy and how vulnerable it makes most patients feel to discuss their sex life, it is extremely important to choose a sex therapist wisely. Referrals can usually be obtained via physicians or clergy, but it is also important to seek a credentialed therapist. The American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT) offers certification to sex therapists, which ensures proper training and education, as well as a strict code of ethics.