Marital Therapy

From Encyclopedia of Sex and Sexuality

Marital therapy is directed at the entire spectrum of relationships and problems likely to emerge between married partners. In contemporary America the term “relationship therapy” may be more appropriate since the techniques and goals of marital therapy are applicable as well to unmarried heterosexuals and to homosexual couples in stable relationships. Marital therapy differs from sex therapy by encompassing much broader areas of the couple’s relationship. It covers problems of an interpersonal nature, child rearing, and relationships with the families of origin (both the husband’s and wife’s parents and siblings) and the extended family. Marital therapy also deals with issues of living arrangements, money matters, goals of the relationship, and emotional satisfactions and dissatisfactions in marriage. While not always the case, many couples with one or more of these problems find that they have an impact on the quality of the sex life in the relationship. Hence, many sex therapists, it they are not themselves fully qualified, will work closely with a marital therapist to help couples when problems involving sexual dysfunction seem to be interwoven with interpersonal marital problems.

Marital therapy, like psychotherapy, has many different schools and theories on how to best treat couples. It may utilize group therapy as an additional method or by itself. Very often marital therapy is a short-term solution, focusing on immediate problems in the specific relationship rather than on the individual personalities and possible changes.