In couples therapy, the couple is the patient. The goal is to understand what each person brings to the table (strengths and weaknesses) and help both people get better at communicating and solving problems together. To move closer to this goal, the couple and their therapist will co-create a plan to achieve the following:

During therapy, both individuals in the couple work with a therapist to uncover the underlying issues that are causing disharmony in the relationship like feelings of self-doubt, fears of failure, fears of fully utilizing one’s potential, and long-standing self-criticism. These underlying issues can manifest as and/or be related to:

Typically, the first several sessions are used by the therapist to obtain information and better understand what is causing issues within the couple’s relationship. The therapist’s job is to use their training to help the couple make sense of these difficulties and create a clear-enough plan for how to resolve those symptoms. This can take several sessions, however, the couple should start to feel gradually understood by the therapist and should have some sense of what the therapy can accomplish.