- Updated on 8 July 2024
Getting married can be like starting a new chapter in your relationship.
Sometimes, married couples may feel stuck and not know how to fix their problems. With marriage, a couple may have more challenges and responsibilities than when they were together or in a live-in situation.
Marriage counselling in Singapore can help you transition to a new phase smoothly. In fact, marriage counselling can help you even if you have been married for several years.
One of the best things about seeking counselling as a couple is finding out the real reasons behind arguments and learning how to fight effectively with each other.
Married couples can also make plans for their future together in counselling. Working together on goals improves the relationship and ensures both people want the same things.
In this article, we will look into the 7 most common benefits of marriage counselling in Singapore!
Benefits of Marriage Counselling
1. Improve Communication
The most common and important benefit of marriage counselling is improving the way you interact and communicate with your partner.
You can learn how to articulate without hurting others through therapeutic tools in solution-focused brief therapy, such as miracle questions.
Miracle questioning is when a Singaporean Therapist asks questions deliberately to encourage positive and solution-focused thinking.
For example, they may ask, “Imagine a miracle happened overnight, and now your relationship is perfect. What is the first thing you’d tell your partner?”
In sessions, therapists introduce introspective exercises that can help break communication barriers.
You may learn how to listen actively, express honestly, and communicate in a way that meets both your and your spouse’s needs.
2. Resolve Conflicts
The second benefit of marriage counselling is to navigate and resolve conflicts effectively.
Marriage counsellors can help you with several conflicts, such as:
- Lack of open communications
- Misunderstandings
- Financial disagreements
- Arguments
- Challenges with intimacy
Your marriage counsellor will be non-judgemental and empathetic when you share your problems.
The counsellor may steer the conversation in a productive direction and help you and your spouse think of solutions to understand each other’s issues.
3. Become Supportive
It can be hard to understand how to best support a spouse in a marriage.
Due to several reasons, such as lack of communication or difficulty understanding a partner’s thoughts, one may not know what help to offer.
During marriage counselling, you may identify your partner’s needs and learn how to provide support. Similarly, your spouse may also learn to offer you the same help.
Approaches such as acceptance and commitment therapy can help strengthen your bond and make sure both you and your spouse feel valued and understood.
4. Improve Sex Life
A major benefit of marriage counselling is improving sex life and physical intimacy.
You can expect to receive support for issues such as:
- Low sex drive
- Pain during sex
- Not feeling attracted towards your spouse
- Interests in ethical non-monogamy
- Lack of sexual satisfaction
Sex therapy can help you feel closer to your partner and become happier together.
You can receive sex therapy either through individual counselling in Singapore or through marriage counselling.
5. Rebuild Trust
Many couples go to counselling when trust is broken in their relationship. Lack of trust could occur due to problems like:
- Cheating
- Not being honest
- Financial issues
- Gaslighting
Marriage counselling is a safe environment where you can discuss your past issues and how they made you feel or the impact they had on your marriage.
Identifying key problems and learning how to overcome them are the two important steps to rebuilding trust.
Your counsellor will avoid taking sides and listen to all points of view before helping you.
During counselling, you will begin to see the situation from a fresh perspective and learn skills to truly understand your spouse.
6. Manage Negative Emotions
Another common benefit of marriage counselling is learning how to manage negative emotions within a relationship.
Through scientific tools, you may learn how to:
- Control anger in a relationship
- Reduce frustration
- Overcome emotions such as feeling sad for no reason
- Express your feelings honestly
Your counsellor will provide you with unconditional support. This support can encourage you and your spouse to understand each other’s emotional wellbeing.
You may also develop skills to control your emotions that may otherwise lead to conflicts.
7. Deepen Connection
One of the major benefits of marriage counselling is its overall effect on your emotional connection and bond with your spouse.
Other than physical intimacy, it is also important to focus on emotional intimacy.
Being emotionally intimate could include:
- Understanding each other
- Meeting and satisfying each other’s needs
- Showing love in a way that reaches your spouse (eg learning each other’s love languages)
- Setting healthy boundaries
Sometimes, if you’ve been together for a long time, it is common to avoid your spouse’s needs or not prioritise them.
However, spouses may have to work hard to manage their marriage for a long time. Any sort of relationship requires work, effort, and intention.
Therapy can help you reignite that connection you may have felt with your spouse when you first met.
In fact, marriage counselling in Singapore can also help you set new expectations and roles to adjust to your relationship dynamics.
Takeaway
Marriage can be a wonderful new chapter but often comes with unique challenges and responsibilities. Many couples in Singapore find marriage counselling beneficial, whether they’re newlyweds or have been together for years.
Counselling helps couples understand the root causes of their conflicts, learn effective communication strategies, and work on future goals together. Some key benefits include improving communication, resolving conflicts, becoming more supportive, improving physical intimacy, rebuilding trust, managing negative emotions, and deepening the emotional connection.
This supportive environment allows couples to grow together and navigate their marriage with understanding and commitment.