HHC Centre Family Therapy: Forget The Blame Game And Solve Co | Page 12

Relationship Counselling
Not all Family Therapy involves the entire family unit as some failures or issues with relationships are down to problems between couples or
siblings. These issues are often difficult to resolve because they can have many underlying root-causes. With regards relationship issues between
couples they can arise from a variety of causes such as lack of trust, infidelity, financial problems, alcohol or substance abuse amongst many
others. Poor communication and emotional distancing are the first symptoms that come to the fore quickly followed by a lack of sexual intimacy
that makes couples question whether they should stay together or not. This is typically when couples seek relationship counselling. Unfortunately
most couples put off relationship counselling until it is too late. They do this for a mixture of reasons but one common one is that they are
concerned that by telling the truth about their feelings may make the situation even worse. However, just by showing a commitment to attending
relationship counselling makes a significant statement of the individual’s desire to preserve the relationship. As with all Family Therapy it works
best when all relevant parties attend, in relationship counselling concerning a couple it is especially important. This is because it removes the
opportunity for an individual to demonstrate the human condition of portraying themselves as the victim as is so common in individual therapy
sessions. Also when a couple are counselled together counselling works to surface the deep-seated relationship problems and as couples recognize
the problems from the others perspective they often show tendencies to work together to support one another.