Guidance and Counseling

What is the meaning of marital guidance?
Marital counselling, which is also called 'marriage counseling' or 'marital therapy',

is a form of counselling for married couples or couples who are engaged and are on
their path of getting married. There is difference between real and ideal life and
sometimes striding for ideal life can lead to conflict
What Is Marriage Counseling?
Marriage counseling is a type of joint counseling in which a couple seeks help, typically
due to relationship issues. It differs from other types of therapy because there are
two married individuals involved in each session.
Marriage counseling is considered by many therapists as the most difficult therapy to

undertake, according to Block, especially with couples who are angry, hurt and treat
the therapy as a medium to prove their partner wrong. “They view the process as a
court and the therapist a judge who will hopefully straighten out their partner,” he
says, stressing that is not the purpose of marriage therapy.
At its core, marriage counseling is meant to help couples understand and resolve
conflicts to improve their relationship. It’s intended to give couples the tools to
communicate with more compassion and less fear while learning how to problem-
solve and deal with conflict in a healthy manner.
You don’t need to be struggling in your relationship to seek marriage counseling. In

fact, you may have a better result if you don’t wait until your marriage is unraveling.
“Marriage counseling can benefit couples who just want to strengthen their
relationship and feel more connected and bonded with one another,” says Jaime
Bronstein, licensed relationship therapist and coach and host of Love Talk Live on LA
Talk Radio.
What Types of Marriage Counseling Are Available?

Therapists draw from a variety of different theoretical orientations and methodologies
when treating couples. Some of the most frequently used techniques include:
 Cognitive behavioral therapy
 The Gottman Method
 Emotionally focused therapy (EFT)
 Positive psychology therapy
 Solution focused therapy (SFT)
“Just as is the case with individual therapy, marriage therapists take differing
approaches to treating couples,” says Block. Cognitive behavioral-oriented therapists,
he adds, focus on troubling thoughts and attitudes and how to manage them—for
example, the “shoulds” that create conflict, such as, “he should be a better earner,” or
“she should be more sexual,” negative thoughts about themselves and/or their
partner, or attempts to mind read their partner’s wants and needs instead of using
direct and assertive communication. The goal is to manage thoughts in a more
effective way so they don’t lead to feelings that are difficult to cope with or actions
that are not productive for the relationship.
The Gottman Method—developed by Dr. John Gottman and Dr. Julie Schwartz
Gottman—on the other hand, focuses on applying findings from the couple’s
research. This research includes specific identified behaviors—criticism, contempt,
defensiveness and stonewalling/withdrawal—that lead to discord and often,
separation.
Other techniques, such as emotionally focused therapy (EFT) focus heavily on

emotion and emotional regulation as a means of developing bonds and trust in a
relationship. This therapy works to expand a couple’s understanding of their
emotions, enabling them to control their emotional responses and foster deeper
connection. Positive psychology therapy focuses on enhancing traits and behaviors
such as optimism, happiness, creativity, perseverance and hope in a person’s
everyday life, while solution focused therapy (SFT) is goal and solution oriented, as
the name might suggest.
“What’s important is not so much which ‘theoretical orientation’ is used, however,
but whether the methodology and therapist are right for the couple,” says Beatty
Cohan, psychotherapist and author of For Better, For Worse, Forever. “It may take
several sessions for a couple to assess whether the counseling is helpful and, if you
find that you are not seeing improvement or don’t have a good connection with your
therapist, remember there are many other therapists who can help you.

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What is the meaning of marital guidance?

Marital counselling, which is also called 'marriage counseling' or 'marital therapy',

Marriage counseling is considered by many therapists as the most difficult therapy to

You don’t need to be struggling in your relationship to seek marriage counseling. In

What Types of Marriage Counseling Are Available?

 Cognitive behavioral therapy

 The Gottman Method

 Emotionally focused therapy (EFT)

 Positive psychology therapy

 Solution focused therapy (SFT)

Other techniques, such as emotionally focused therapy (EFT) focus heavily on

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