In fact, many people have told me that their so-called marriage therapy even made things worse. Most therapists are well-meaning, but not always qualified to do marital therapy. That s why I want to offer some guidelines for you to consider should you seek professional help to improve your marriage. Too often, therapists say they do couples therapy or marital therapy if they have two people sitting in the office. This is incorrect.
Marital therapy requires very different skills than doing individual therapy.
Individual therapists usually help people identify and process feelings. They assist them in achieving personal goals. Couples therapists, on the other hand, need to be skilled at helping people overcome the differences that naturally occur when two people live under the same roof. They need to know what makes marriage tick. A therapist can be very skilled as an individual therapist and be clueless about helping couples change.