Many couples choose to attend marriage counseling when they begin to see signs of trouble in their marriage. Whether the problem is bad communication, lack of trust or infidelity, marriage counseling can prove to be effective in many cases. There are several different types of marriage counseling and each type has its own success rate. While it is not possible to predict how a certain type of counseling will affect your marriage, success statistics can help couples decide which route to take.
According to the Hypnosis Motivation Institute, about 25 percent of couples who use hypnosis as a marriage counseling tool reported that their relationships became worse after therapy ended. Within four years, about 38 percent of them get divorced. On the other hand, behavioral marriage counseling reports show that 67 percent of couples who utilize integrative behavioral couple’s therapy experience a positive improvement in their relationships. This type of therapy is meant to teach each partner how to better understand and support their spouse’s needs. Even better are the statistics for emotionally based marriage counseling. Up to 73 percent of couples who underwent this type of therapy reported having much happier marriages a couple years after therapy had ended. Emotional therapy works by placing a large emphasis on each partner’s emotions and how they affect the marriage.
Most cases of successful marriage counseling occur after extended periods of counseling that can last for many months. Success rates tend to increase the more time a couple spends working on their marriage and trying to understand their partner’s feelings. Marriage counselors who pay attention to mental conditions that may be affecting either partner tend to see better success rates, regardless of the method used. Conditions such as depression, anger issues and external stress from outside the marriage need to be properly dealt with if the marriage counseling is going to have any positive effect at all. There are also many people for whom traditional therapy doesn’t seem to work. Whether it’s because they aren’t giving it a fair chance or possibly they really deep down, don’t care to work on the marriage. There are also partners in marriage that are unable to look past any infidelities or abuse or other extentiating circumstance that may have been the trigger to send the couple into marriage counseling int he first place.
In 2010, a study was conducted that focused on 134 couples whose marriages were described as being “seriously distressed”. Each couple underwent 26 weeks of behavioral therapy. Five years after therapy had ended, 48 percent of the couples reported a drastic improvement in their relationships, while 27 percent had either gotten divorced or were separated. There is always a chance for couples to relapse years after completing marriage therapy. This can cause their relationship to begin to deteriorate once again. Successful couples often choose to start going to marriage counseling again to repair their relationship. However it is reported that about 43 percent couples who seek marriage counseling end up getting divorced at least five years after completing counseling.
This article is provided by the Cantor Law Group. The Phoenix Divorce Attorneys that make up the Cantor Law Group, have many years of experience in handling all aspects of family law in the State of Arizona.
