Premarital counseling can be a powerful way for you and your partner to prepare for the marriage and the family you are creating together. Premarital counseling can also help you and your partner develop the skills you need to effectively communicate, compromise and cooperate as you build your marriage.
Researchers have discovered that couples who engage in premarital counseling have a more realistic view of marriage and a deeper level of commitment to each other. These couples reported having an easier adjustment to married life than those who didn’t participate in premarital counseling.
Counselors, marriage and family therapists, educators, and some clergy members may have different approaches to preparing the couples they work with for marriage, the goal of premarital counseling remains the same: to help you and your partner have the conversations and build the skills you need before entering into a lifelong marriage commitment. Here are just five of the many ways premarital counseling can help your relationship thrive:
1) Improved communication and conflict management skills. Difficulties in communication may be the number one reason couples seek out marriage counseling.
2) Better understanding of core values and differences. If you allow them to sneak up on you, your differences can feel threatening or impossible to reconcile. They don’t have to be, though: Our differences can enrich and enliven our relationships if we know how to approach them with openness and honesty.
3) Better understanding of communication styles and needs. Sometimes, marriage can feel like two people who speak completely different languages living under the same roof. Premarital counseling is a perfect opportunity to deepen your understanding of your partner’s communication style and needs, including how you give and receive love, approach managing stress, and what you need from each other during conflict.
4) Experience working together as a team. In order to be successful, marriage requires the ability to work together as a team throughout your lives. Seeking out help as you begin your life together sets a strong precedent for how difficult times will be handled in the future. Premarital counseling is a shared goal and commitment the two of you are fulfilling together, and can help you develop the skills you need to build a strong foundation for your marriage.
5) Creating a deeper sense of shared meaning. Marriage is more than owning a home, saving for retirement, and having children. Marriage is about being better together than you would be alone. Marriage is about having someone by your side who loves you deeply even though they’ve seen you at your worst. As you begin your life together, premarital counseling can help you create a deeper sense of what you want the purpose of your marriage to be.
In all that you and your partner do to prepare for your wedding, make sure you are also preparing for your future life, the marriage and family you will build together.
Source: Psychology Today