Marriage Counseling - Does it Work

The recent split between Madonna and Guy Ritchie must have put a question mark on the utility of marriage counseling. Despite being married for eight years and having four kids, Madge and Guy ended their marriage in 2009. Well even they had resorted to marriage counseling. However, their split raises the question, 'marriage counseling - does it work?' For this let us first understand what is marriage counseling? Read more on marriage counseling.

What is Marriage Counseling?
Marriage counseling or couples therapy, as it is also known, helps couples - married or unmarried, resolve their relationship issues and lead a healthy life together. It is normal for couples to have differences in matters of choice and opinions. What lies at the bottom of a successful relationship is how well the couple iron out their differences and learn to accept each others shortcomings. This can be done with an open attitude and the most important thing in a relationship which in most cases is missing - COMMUNICATION. Marriage counseling gives couples the opportunity to communicate with each other and work out the differences. In presence of a marriage counselor, who is a neutral third party and a trained professional to help couples with marital issues, couples also get a chance to argue their case in a healthy way. Read more on tips to save a marriage from divorce.

Marriage Counseling - Does it Work?
Although the aim of marriage counseling is to help couples reconcile, many couples who have taken marriage counseling do split. There are a number of factors that decide the success of marriage counseling. One of them is the time when a couple approaches a marriage counselor. The sooner a couple goes for these therapy sessions, higher the chances of gaining from them. Once the bitterness has found deep roots in a relationship, no amount of relationship advice or, to be more specific, marriage counseling advice can reunite the couple. The other factor is how open a couple is to the therapy sessions. For the therapy to be successful, a couple needs to co-operate with the counselor and be open to his/her suggestions. Besides these factors, it has been observed that marriage counseling has been successful in the case of young couples and couples who are still in love with each other. Despite all these statistics, those who don't believe in marriage counseling, do not have unfounded reason to doubt its efficacy. Studies have shown that marriage counseling is not as effective as people think, as it is largely women who benefit from it than men. However, the fact is that in a relationship, the problems of both the parties need to be addressed.

Read more on:

• Relationship Advice
• Marriage Counseling Tips

How Does Marriage Counseling Work?
Marriage counseling involves joint therapy sessions which both the partners need to attend together. In the presence of the counselor, the couple discuss their problems. The counselor helps individuals to understand the other person's point of view. The counselor gives a couple tools or helps them learn skills that would help them to communicate better, discuss their problems rationally and to come to solutions amicably.

Marriage counseling has been found to be useful when a relationship suffers from infidelity, cultural differences and those related to family, conflict with regards to finances, having and raising children, infertility and sex related issues. In case marital problems stem due to physical or mental disabilities, a marriage counselor works with other health care professionals to help a couple. Although in case of domestic violence such therapy sessions may sometimes yield results, in case the abuse reaches a point when there is threat to the victim's safety, the police should be contacted immediately.

Who are at Risk of Failing Marriage Counseling?
Studies have shown that the following people are more prone of not benefiting from marriage counseling:

• Those who marry early.
• Those who do not graduate from high school.
• Individuals with divorced parents.
• Where there are inter cultural marriages.
• People belonging to low income bracket.
• Unemployed individuals.

For those who seek answer to the question - 'Marriage counseling, does it work' should realize that marriages and relationships thrive on the urge to make it work. If you are not understanding to the needs of your partner or aren't eager enough to iron out the differences, there is nothing that can save your relationship.