Stress & Wellness Consulting • Occupational & Clinical Psychology
Couple therapy is a form of psychological therapy used to treat relationship distress for both individuals and couples. Couple therapy is also often called marriage counselling, but a couple need not be married to benefit from therapy.
The purpose of couple therapy is to restore a better level of functioning in couples who experience relationship distress. The reasons for distress may include poor communication skills, incompatibility, or a broad spectrum of psychological disorders that include domestic violence, alcoholism, depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia. The focus of couple therapy is to identify the presence of dissatisfaction and distress in the relationship, and to devise and implement a treatment plan with objectives designed to improve or alleviate the presenting symptoms and restore the relationship to an improved and healthier level of functioning. Couple therapy can assist people who are experiencing problems relating to intimacy, sexual matters and communication difficulties.
Couple therapy encompasses a broad range of psychological approaches, including humanistic, psychodynamic and cognitive behavioural approaches.