How To Save Your Marriage, Even When Your Spouse Isn't Ready To Do The Work
How To Save Your Marriage, Even When Your Spouse Isn't Ready To Do The Work
By Mary Kay Cocharo Expert Love, February 12, 2018
from: Your Tango https://www.yourtango.com/experts/MaryKayCocharo/how-save-your-marriage-alone
I used to believe effective couples therapy required both partners to be in the room.
I occasionally get calls from one partner in a marriage wanting to know if it would help for them to come in to couples therapy without their partners. There are many reasons why one person is unwilling or unable to start therapy:
Perhaps, the missing spouse is not interested, is wary, or had a bad experience with therapy in the past.
They don't believe that there’s a need.
They don't want to spend the money or can’t get away from work.
Sometimes, the caller is the wife and more and more, the caller is the husband. I used to think that effective couples therapy always required both people in the room, but today I say, "Sure, come on in!"
Why the change of heart? Frankly, I have seen marriages saved by the efforts of one person. As long as either one of you is willing to learn how to save a marriage and change your way of relating, the dynamic in the marriage can reverse from negative to positive.
Let’s say that you and your partner find yourselves in a vicious power struggle–arguing all the time, failing to behave kindly, growing resentful, and withholding sexual interaction. It would be tempting to go into therapy to gain an ally; someone who would side with you and agree that your partner is being an awful pain in the you-know-what!
If you sought out individual therapy, it would be the therapist’s job to help you to explore your family history and discover your internal psychological patterns.
The therapist would hope that your life would improve as you gained powerful insights into your thoughts and feelings. She might even agree with you that your current spouse is thwarting your psychological growth and you’d be better off without him.
Couples therapy carries a different theoretical orientation. The belief is not so much in insight creating change, but rather in the individual examining and changing patterns of relating with their partners. The relationship, rather than the individual, is the client.
In this kind of therapy, the therapist should guide the client to view his or her approach in interactions with the other spouse. What are you saying and doing? How are you saying or doing it? How can you improve that in order to get your needs met?
Let’s take the example of a husband who recently contacted me.
Ted told me that he loved his wife and was afraid that she was going to leave him. He admitted that he had been behaving badly for the past few years — working too late, going out for drinks, never including her in his plans, and not approaching her, sexually. He wanted help but let me know that his wife, Lynn, was too angry and hopeless to join him in couples therapy.
So, I assured him that I could help him turn their dynamic around and he came to couples therapy by himself. At first, we explored what he was trying to communicate with his wife. He said he loved her, but had definitely not been communicating that!
He had been hurt and felt emotionally abandoned when she turned her attention toward mothering. He had pulled away in order to protect himself from these feelings.
I asked him what it would be like to talk to her about his hurt. He assured me that she wouldn’t listen. Again and again, I helped him to practice that talk until he found the courage to have it with Lynn. He came in one week pleasantly surprised that she had been receptive and even a bit empathetic.
Next, I got to work coaching him how to behave more lovingly. Little by little, he started including her, giving her hugs, coming home earlier, and doing loving things for her.
I worked with him to keep him consistent with these reverse behaviors in order to build Lynn’s trust in him. He told me that it seemed harder for her to believe him than it was for him to make the necessary changes!
It took some time but eventually, Ted reported that they were enjoying the marriage again. As he put positive energy into their relationship, she relaxed and started doing nice things for him, as well. The energy that we use protecting ourselves gets freed into the spirit of connection and passion.
So, if you have a partner who does not want to work on your relationship, seek the help of a trained marriage therapist and go alone. One person can change an entire system!
To find out more about us and the services we offer at Pacific MFT Network, please visit our website, www.pacificmft.com.
Please select a name below to see more about our Couples Therapists:
Pacific Marriage and Family Therapy Network provides children, teens, adults of all ages, couples, and families with quality psychotherapy that gets results. We have several therapists on staff that have several different modalities of work, specializations and expertise. We can help clients experiencing anxiety, depression, difficult life transitions, troubled relationships, addiction, eating disorders, stress, anger management, prenatal bonding, trauma, domestic violence, performance, whole life fitness, ADD/ADHD, autism, learning differences, religious crisis/struggles, LGBTQ issues, social skills, couples/marital, pre-marital, dating, break up recovery, parenting children, parenting teens, social anxiety, self esteem, substance use, panic, stress relief, cancer recovery, pre-surgical wellness, post-surgical wellness, disordered eating, postpartum depression, careers, grief & loss, divorce, co-parenting, childhood trauma, childhood behavior management, work & life balance, fatherhood, codependancy, or any other mental health issue. Pacific MFT Network is a professional network of highly skilled licensed Marriage & Family Therapists and Interns that are committed to empowering a sense of self in our clients and helping them live the life they want. We do so by creating a relationship that is based on genuine care and concern, non-judgment, and support. Our mission is to help you help yourself live a happier and more satisfying life.
Main Office 310-612-2998
www.pacificmft.com
1230 Rosecrans Avenue, Suite 300 Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
2716 Ocean Park Blvd, Suite 3075 Santa Monica, CA 90405
