Couples therapy | Counsellingation

In couples therapy, I will accompany and support you:

• in an acute crisis
• in conflicts
• in case of persistent communication difficulties
• in the process of researching your origin story
• in cases of separation ambivalence

Common topics in couples therapy include:

• Appreciative and respectful interaction with one another
• fair arguing, constructive handling of anger
• Balance of giving and receiving, duties and pleasures, closeness and distance
• Shaping relationships with the families of origin
• Trust and intimacy
• sexual problems

The process of couples counseling / couples therapy:
The first couples session serves to get to know each other and to clarify the couple's wishes for change and goals.

If both partners decide to undergo couples therapy, subsequent sessions typically take place every 2 to 4 weeks. The duration depends on your needs and goals.

Addressing a current conflict can lead to a satisfactory solution in just a few sessions. Deeper-seated conflicts may take longer.

Some couples appreciate longer-term support. They find the opportunity to regularly discuss emerging problems and conflicts with a neutral third party beneficial for their relationship.

A systemic approach in couples therapy means that there is no single "culprit," but rather that each partner's behavior triggers a reaction in the other and, in turn, reacts to the other's behavior. This can lead to vicious cycles and conflict-ridden patterns.

Together we will work to identify and change entrenched patterns. You will receive support in rediscovering your strengths within your relationship and in re-establishing open communication about them.

In this way, the partnership can emerge stronger from the crisis and new vitality can arise in the relationship.

Reasons for couples therapy

Conflicts and ongoing communication difficulties

At the beginning of a relationship, during the infatuation phase, many things seem to fall into place "automatically," and we're convinced it will always continue that way. The magic of love suggests to us that if you love each other, living together will be problem-free.

But after the initial infatuation phase, everyday life gradually takes center stage. Life returns to normal, and each partner focuses on their own projects and interests again. Opportunities arise where the partners can also recognize their differences. Perhaps the partners even reveal sides of themselves that don't fit at all into each other's expectations.

Negative interpretations of each other's behavior, mutual accusations, and put-downs make communication difficult and can lead to a relationship crisis. If the crisis persists, the partners' perceptions of one another change for the worse. Negative attributions and predictions about the other become commonplace in their communication. Escalating mutual accusations, reproaches, and criticism can result.

In an acute relationship crisis, or when entrenched conflicts block love and vitality in the relationship, professional couples counseling or couples therapy can be helpful.

Examining your origin story

Relationship conflicts can also arise when one or both partners carry unresolved experiences from their family of origin and childhood, which, during stressful moments in the relationship, activate unconscious behavioral patterns and lead to conflict. In such stressful situations, satisfactory solutions are often not possible for those involved.

Therefore, in addition to current interactions, it can also be helpful to understand and process the respective life experiences that have shaped people.

Cost:
on request