Preempting Marital Strife

Some of you may have seen the recent New York Times web article on preempting marital strife by Tara Parker Pope on June 28. The article asks the question: does your marriage need therapy? 

If you’re like most people the correct answer may well be yes, but your answer is probably no. The article goes on to say that in most marriages, one or both partners resist the idea of counseling. Some couples simply can’t afford it or just find it inconvenient. Many people view therapy as a last resort, something only desperate couples need. In fact, the article goes on to say that only 19% of currently married couples have taken part in marriage counseling. A recent study of divorcing couples found that nearly 2/3 never sought counseling before deciding to end the relationship. Marriage counseling doesn’t always work because it is so often delayed past the point of no return.

At the Imago Center of San Diego, we try to address strife in the relationship before it becomes terminal. One way we do this is by offering an Imago Relationship Checkup. This checkup offers essential preventative care for your relationship, just like an annual physical or dental exam does for your body. You don’t wait to see the dentist until something hurts; you go for checkups on a regular basis. It only makes sense that bringing your marriage in for a checkup on an annual basis would provide the same sort of benefit for your relationship that a physical health checkup would provide for your body. Couples who take part in preventative relationship counseling will experience improvement in the quality of their marriage. A checkup identifies potentially “corrosive” behaviors and helps couples make changes in their communication style before their problems spiral out of control. Give yourself and your relationship the gift of preventative care by paying attention to what’s most important right here, right now.