When you are in a romantic relationship, it can be easy to assume that nobody else can understand what is going on in your relationship besides you and your partner. However, what you may not realize is that no matter how good your relationship seems or what stage that relationship is in (i.e. planning to get married, becoming parents, contemplating a separation or divorce, or any other stage in a relationship), there are always ways that outside help can improve your relationship and/or make you realize things about your relationship you might not have noticed on your own. Get to know some of the ways that a marriage therapist and marriage counseling can help you through virtually any stage of your relationship so you can decide if going to a marriage therapist is right for you and your partner.

Pre-Marriage Counseling

Many people assume that they need to have been married for a while to benefit from marriage counseling. However, this is not necessarily the case. You do not even need to be married yet to go see a marriage therapist to help you build a healthy relationship with your partner.

Pre-marital or pre-marriage therapy is designed to help a couple prepare themselves for both the joys and the challenges that go along with marriage. This type of counseling helps couples to think about the issues that could cause conflict or challenges in the future such as whether or not to have both shared and separate financial accounts, how they will divide up duties in the home, and when or if they want to have children (among many others). You will also learn about healthy conflict resolution techniques to help avoid fights and negativity in your future marriage and relationship.

Parenting Issues Therapy

One of the factors that can cause a great deal of strife in marriage is parenting and dealing with certain parenting issues. Oftentimes, individuals in a marriage do not know just how different their parenting styles are until they are in the midst of dealing with a specific parenting issue or problem. This can be as simple as whether or not to co-sleep or to allow a baby to sleep in their own crib or bassinet or can be more complicated like how to deal with tantrums or other behavioral problems.

When conflicts in parenting styles occur or a major issue arises with a child, a marriage therapist can help you and your partner to combine your parenting styles, reach compromises, and even come up with new and innovative ways to work together to address the challenges of trying to raise a child together. Marriage counseling can help keep a couple from pulling apart when a child has behavior problems, health issues, or are just typical children that test their parents' patience and can even give them the tools to better co-parent and present a united front in parenting decisions.

Although most people think of marriage counseling as a last-ditch effort to save a marriage that is in trouble, this is only one of the many ways that a marriage therapist can help you in your relationship. Knowing some of these other purposes of marriage therapy, you can better decide if seeing a marriage therapist is the best option for you.

Contact a medical office like Tim Robbins Counseling for more information and assistance.