Nothing feels quite like the pain of a slowly dissolving relationship, especially one that has lasted for many years and is deeply rooted in the self. Sometimes, relationship problems feel like the proverbial frog in boiling water, those in it have no idea it has gone so wrong until it’s almost too late. Others have full awareness of the decline in emotion and affection, but feel helpless to resolve the issues and rebalance the relationship.

Either way, dysfunctional relationships almost always have a window of opportunity when couples therapy can help over and above trying to work it out on your own. Those who need help should reach out to a professional establishment like the East Bay Relationship Center.

Reasons Why Relationships Break

Many of the reasons for the breakdown itself prevent a couple from developing strategies and tactics needed to return to a better place. Relationships often face a crisis due to a breakdown of trust. One or both parties may grow physically or emotionally intimate with someone else, or a destructive financial deceit has occurred. These developments often occur hand in hand with a breakdown in communication between partners.

No communication and no trust don’t have to end a relationship, but they make it nearly impossible for one to thrive.

How Couples Therapy Can Help

Couples therapy works when an experienced and educated relationship counseling professional serves as a catalyst. It is important to remember, the professional’s primary focus does not necessarily lie in saving the relationship. If one or both partners are demonstrating abusive behavior toward the other or the damage has gone too far for too long, again on one or both sides, then the role of the therapist may shift from restoration to transition out of the relationship.

That said, even if serious mistakes occur, the right therapist can introduce new perspectives and approaches that can help couples. Learning how experiences and emotions can unconsciously drive responses, discovering better strategies for communication, and working toward restoring emotional and/or physical intimacy are just a few ways in which a therapist can help.

Seek Therapy Sooner for Best Results

In most cases, however, retaining a couples therapist early in relationship troubles provides the best chance to save it, if both parties will work for it. When the perceived pain of ending the relationship outweighs that of remaining in it, a fighting chance still exists, unless serious emotional or physical abuse is present.

One situation where couples therapy can have the most positive impact is when a couple has treated one other properly but both parties feel as if their connection has “drifted apart.” This situation produces fertile grounds for breaking trust and diminished communication down the road, so addressing the problem prior to one side or the other making crucial errors in judgment is paramount.

A major trauma or setback in life can also threaten a relationship. Losing a child or a parent, experiencing serious and perhaps permanent injury, return from military service that involves combat, all of these and more can create immediate distance between partners. Couples who experience these or other traumas should consider therapy before symptoms of relationship struggles emerge. This provides the surest way to prevent communication breakdowns and promote understanding.

Although divorce rates have plummeted from the 50 percent mark set a generation ago, couples still need help. The digital age has made breaking trust just a few clicks away. Also, the steady return of married soldiers from combat also creates a need to help both partners adjust to the emotional aftereffects.

In most situations when a couple starts to feel a decline in their relationship, that serves as the signal to reach out and ask for help. Call East Bay Relationship Center today for more details or to schedule an appointment.