Maplewood Counseling

Can Our Relationship Survive?

Can Our Relationship Survive?

Helping Couples in NJ

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Can Relationship Therapy Help Us Work it Out?

Couples that are disconnected or in crisis often consider splitting up usually ask this question: Can we work it out?

All couples have to deal with issues. Some much more difficult and painful than others. Couples that do not have skills to repair “ruptures” will struggle and over time the result is a disconnect. That lack of connection can cause tremendous damage, loss of hope, feeling alone and make couples feel very unhappy. They sometimes decide to go their separate ways.

Couples that are open (both people) and committed to trying to understand one another and reflect on their own triggers have a much better shot at making it work. This takes a deeper awareness and level of presence and consciousness, which is not easy to achieve if defense mechanisms kick in, which happens for most people.

Effective Relationship Therapy

There are many things that can hep couples repair their conflicts in more effective ways. Level of conscious – understanding you own part it the conflict and where your partner or spouse is coming from is critical. Consciousness will take reflecting on your past, understanding how earlier relationships (neglect, abuse, feeling like you don’t matter) can be the downfall of any relationship. Once painful experiences and feelings from the past get triggered (and there is no awareness of this connection only the pain) by your spouse or parnter, anger – sometimes aggression causes a reaction. As if to say “how dare you trigger my pain”.

What happened when that pain gets triggered is any number of things.

  • Angry reactions – yelling, screaming, name calling
  • The silent treatment (favorite weapon of some which is emotionally abusive and not a good way of dealing with anger)
  • Confusion: The couple that does not understand these issues – cause and effect, will struggle with sadness and confusion.
  • Infidelity and a loss of Intimacy:
  • Feeling alone, unhappy and disconnected

When you don’t have the communication skills to resolve important issues, your relationship will suffer. You’ll feel disconnected, like you don’t matter, are not appreciated – you or your partner can become vulnerable to splitting up, separation and divorce.

Want to know if there is anything you can do to get better and communicating with one another? Are you both committed to working on the relationship or trying to decide if you should go your separate ways, as painful as that is? Marriage and relationship therapy can help you figure out the next step.

Call 973-902-8700 Maplewoood Counseling

 

Relationship Therapy- Struggling and Need Therapy?

Therapy as a Last Resort

 

Professional Therapy

Online or In-Person

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Need Relationship Therapy ?

Why did it take so long? So many times it seems someone in a relationship or marriage has been asking to go to counseling for so long and their spouse or partner was not willing. Some think everything is ok or we can fix things ourselves. Others think “you need therapy not us.”

The problem with this (and as a therapist I’ve seen it so much over the years) is by the time someone is really ready it’s sometimes too late. The wake up call and realization that your spouse or partner is about done puts you in overdrive. Maybe you’ve heard threats of divorce and “I’m not happy” a lot, but never believed it. At a certain point, when someone feels beyond sad and angry – completely hopeless, there is a reality that really hits home. She (or he) is emotionally gone. Checked out. And the fear of being abandoned gets very real. It’s hard work and can be done sometimes to bring a couple back from the brink, but not every couple can make it.

What couples have a shot at recovery? Well it does depend on what you’ve been through in the relationship (and past painful issues) and each person’s willingness to work on things. It depends how high the wall is up – just how many months or years you’ve tried. One partner my feel “why now after I’ve asked you forever to go to counseling?” Feelings of anger and resentment for knowing you needed help – at least one of you was very unhappy and wanted professional help. Possibly pleasing with your wife, husband or partner to go talk to someone.

It seems only when the unwilling spouse starts to feel pain and fear are they finally ready – sometimes even picking up the phone to find a therapist asap.

It is an important first step to make that call, but know if you are the one who was not willing for a long time, your parents may be angry and not as willing now. I see many couples in this place and work to help them come together on this issue so they can go work on the deeper, longstanding problems plaguing the relationship.

If you are both ready or at least want to see if you can come back from a very bad place in your relationship, contact us at 973-902-8700.

Relationship Therapy

Counseling as Last Resort

Stressed and Overwhelmed