The distress from a relationship can affect your well-being along with impacting everyone surrounding you including your children. Some relationships lack trust, affection, connection, and communication which can lead to an emotional toll on the people involved. However, most couples are hesitant to go for couple therapy due to a general stigma of guilt and shame. Couples might think that there needs to be something seriously wrong with their relationship before seeking help. According to expert couple therapists, couples who proactively seek therapy at the first sign of problems are the ones that go on to live a more fulfilled life with their partner. Some signs can tell you that you need couples therapy right now.
In this article, we are going to discuss them. This article can throw light on how couple therapy from reliable counsellors like Couples Counselling Edmonton can help to address common relationship issues, along with tips for managing conflict and handling life transitions.
6 Early Signs That Can Indicate The Need For Couple Counseling
● Lack of Communication
For every healthy relationship “good communication” is the key. If you find yourself beating around the bush about big and small issues to avoid conflict, it’s time to get help for your communication. If you are unable to communicate effectively with your partner, chances are, you will never be able to truly love and support one another or discuss small and serious things in your whole life. You might have one or more bad communication patterns like stonewalling, defensiveness, contempt, or criticism. So it is a good idea to get help from a professional relationship counsellor who can give you effective communication techniques.
● Lack of Intimacy
Lack of intimacy in a relationship might be directly proportional to a lack of interest by one or both partners. It is usually one of the first signs of a deteriorating relationship. Of course, it is normal for the level of sexual activity to decrease to some extent as the duration of a relationship progresses. But it might be a blaring red flag if there is a substantial change in the frequency of having sex or being intimate with each other. You can seek sex therapy or couple counselling if you haven’t had sex as a couple for a long time or if your intimate moments have become cold and robotic.
● Constant Fighting
Every couple fights! But if you can’t seem to have a normal conversation with your partner without fighting, it is time to get help. It is always okay to disagree on certain things. But if the disagreement goes on to become yelling or name-calling, you can seek the help of a professional counsellor. They will know how to diffuse arguments and encourage techniques to speak to each other more constructively and calmly. Moreover, if you seem to constantly argue over the same thing without reaching a resolution, you should definitely seek couple counselling.
● Lack of Trust
There are many reasons why your trust can be broken. Perhaps your partner has been unfaithful or has hidden something until you found out on your own. Whatever the reason, if your trust is damaged, you might struggle to feel fulfilled or truly loved in your relationship. Your therapist can help to find out why the trust was broken and rebuild your trust once again.
● Toxic Privacy
As an individual, you definitely have the right to your privacy. However, as a couple, some secrets can prove to be disastrous for your relationship. Toxic privacy patterns like undisclosed financial resources, being unfaithful, maintaining secret friendships, or spending time elsewhere can potentially destroy your relationship. It just doesn’t feel right to know that you or your partner choose to disclose only certain parts of your lives to one another.
● Major Life Changes
You can always get some guidance when you are about to hit a big milestone, like getting a new house, getting married or engaged, making a huge financial decision, buying a new car or house, or deciding to have children. Remember that things don’t always have to be bad for you to seek therapy. Your therapist can prepare you for the changes ahead and make the experience more enjoyable by listing down your shared goals and cherishing them.
If you and your partner have been wondering “Should we go to therapy?” then there is a good chance that you can benefit from couple therapy sessions. Relationship therapy and marriage counselling go a long way in maintaining a healthy partnership. You don’t have to reach your breaking point to actively seek professional couple therapy as it is known to be preventive rather than reactive. Always know that there is no shame in asking for a little help in saving your precious relationship, whether you are in a marriage, long-distance, live-in, long-term, or short-term relationship. Although the above surefire signs are good indicators, you can also seek couple therapy for tuning up your relationship every now and then.
