Ways To Seek Help For Relationship Problems
When a relationship starts to have problems, do not ignore or avoid tackling those issues. These won’t help the problem at all. Instead, it may cause the problems to seem magnified and discord may intensify. If you and your partner are struggling to get through some issues, there are several different ways to seek help and try to work on the problems. Different problems may warrant different strategies and each situation is unique. Research available options to determine which tactic is likely to be the most helpful. If that doesn’t work, try something else.
Individual therapy can be helpful if only one person in the relationship wants help or is willing to seek help. One person seeking individual therapy can have a tremendous impact on the relationship. If the person has mental health issues, treating depression or anxiety can be helpful to the relationship. It can also help with conflict resolution skills, grief, and parenting issues.
Couples therapy can be helpful when both partners are committed to taking responsibility for their own part in the relationship and want to work together on a common goal. Couples therapy requires both people to be willing to practice new techniques and be open to making changes. Unfortunately, many people enter into couples counseling only wanting to show the therapist how bad the other person is. Pointing fingers never results in successful changes.
Self-help books and seminars can be helpful to many people. These resources are only helpful if people make the changes suggested by them. Often, people attend a workshop and feel great, but then when they return home they don’t make any changes. The same can be true with self-help books. People read them from cover to cover, feel good about what they are reading, but don’t implement any changes. Self-help resources work best for people who can apply the knowledge to their situation and can do so without requiring a lot of feedback and support.
Spiritual counseling helps many couples. Seeking help from a trusted pastor, priest, or clergy member can assist people with changing their focus and perspective. This works well when both partners have some agreement about their faith and spiritual beliefs and can be very beneficial when the couple already has a relationship with the counselor.
