Why Couples Therapy Isn’t Just For Failing Relationships
“You’re an odd couple,” our therapist said to my boyfriend and me, “most people only come when their relationship is failing miserably. The fact you’re here to improve your relationship before it’s broken is an anomaly.”
While that comment boosted my ego a bit, my therapist’s observation from decades of couples counseling made me sad. The fact is, couples therapy has a stigma that it’s only for couples on the brink of divorce.
Society has, at the very least, gotten past the idea that therapy, in general, is only for mentally unstable people and, instead, is a form of wellness not much like going to the gym. Hell, just the other day, I spotted someone wearing a “Therapy is cool” sweater.
What a time to be alive.
But why doesn’t that same thinking apply to couples therapy? Why do we only associate it with couples on the verge of ripping each other’s throats out? Why would couples rather watch things shrivel up and die than get a little outside help?
Well, for the most part, people are scared.
Hear me out: I’m not saying that fears aren’t valid. Someone can have a perfectly acceptable back story for their fear of intimacy AND still work on not letting those fears destroy something as precious as their relationship.
