Couples Therapist Bethesda MD
When Couples Need Help
As a couples therapist in Bethesda, MD at Lindsey Hoskins & Associates can tell you, marital discord does not always mean a relationship is ending. It’s common for couples to, at some point in their marriages, go through hardship on some level. In some situations, couples just need to be able to make the space to work through some of the issues coming up in their marriage.
Lindsey Hoskins & Associates can help provide you with the space you need, and a provider that can help the two of you get the relationship support you require. You don’t need to be in the midst of a marital crisis in order for therapy to make sense for you. There are usually underlying issues people experience within their marriage that can be brought to light when bigger things come up.
Fears and Nerves About Therapy
Most couples are nervous to attend therapy. Their fears may be stirred up for a variety of reasons. Perhaps they are worried that arguments will intensify, or that despite their best efforts things won’t work out after all. It is important to know that these feelings are completely normal, and therapists don’t expect couples to have the answers. Sometimes couples need a person with professional experience in navigating the rockiness that can strike relationships, in order to know how to continue past the road bump.
What to Expect During Therapy
Couples may wonder what will be expected of them during couples therapy. There is so much more to therapy than simply showing up for the appointment. Here are things that both partners are likely to have to do in order to feel the benefits of couples therapy:
Being Open to New Perspectives
This can be especially true for those who are battling the same disputes over and over again. Perhaps what the couple needs is a slight tweak in how they are viewing the argument. As adults we may operate from a place of fear or based on what we have experienced in the past. By being open to new perspectives, we can see the issue from another angle and it can lead to new ideas about how to resolve it.
Listening to Understand
All too often we listen to others while already figuring out what we are going to say in response. One of the most effective ways to work through a disagreement is learning to listen in a way so that you hear your partner, versus hearing just to respond while getting defensive. Your Bethesda, MD couples therapist in Bethesda can help you practice listening to understand, how to simmer down feelings of anger and defensiveness, along with how to ask for clarification.
Openness to Make Changes
The word “change” can make people very nervous, particularly if they are very comfortable with how they are doing things now. But, the way you and your partner are operating may not be working in unison anymore, which means changes have to be made for the relationship to last. Therapy isn’t necessarily about blame or who is at-fault, as this can make one partner feel alienated and attacked. Certainly a therapist will cover the issues that plague the relationship. But, by each partner focusing on their own personal self-growth instead of how the other should change, they end up indirectly benefiting the relationship.
A Positive Perspective
Going into couples therapy with a perspective that is just isn’t going to work, can cause the relationship to ultimately break. With a negative attitude, people may turn down every solution they hear no matter what, even if it can truly help. Both partners don’t have to be happy per say, but they have to be willing to give potential solutions a chance to work. Nothing defeats a relationship that is already on the brink of breaking quite like a poor attitude and lack of dedicated to the process.
Reasons for Therapy
Admitting that you and your partner need therapy is the first step in getting the support that you need. It can be hard to motivate yourself to find the right couples therapist in Bethesda, and to coordinate your schedules. Couples therapy requires commitment on the part of both you and your partner, especially when it can seem easier to continue to ignore the problems that are coming up in your marriage now, rather than facing them directly.
With their many years of combined experience, therapists at Lindsey Hoskins & Associates may work with couples who come to therapy for issues in one or more of the following areas:
- Communication
- Sex
- Affairs
- Finances
- Having Children
- Major Life Changes
- Loss/Bereavement
Could You Benefit from Couples Therapy?
If you and your partner are having issues that you just can’t seem to work through without assistance, you may benefit from speaking with one of our couples therapists. Couples counseling is a type of therapy that can help couples work through conflict, learn how to communicate, and improve overall satisfaction in the relationship.
At Lindsey Hoskins & Associates, our licensed couples therapists are dedicated to working with couples to help them gain insight into their relationship in order to see where unhealthy patterns and habits have developed and provide insight into the healthy parts of any relationship too.
If you choose to give couples counseling a try, we can help you and your significant other with the following broad challenges during your sessions:
- Identify and focus on specific issues. Examples of these issues may include addictions, infidelity, sexual problems, insecurity.
- Treating the relationship as a whole and not the individuals. While the therapist may occasionally meet with each partner individually, the focus is really the relationship.
- The therapist, you and your significant other will also focus on where changes and solutions should be early on during therapy.
Our Commitment to Helping Others
Our Bethesda, MD couples therapist clients come from a wide range of relationship types. We have clients who are straight, who are gay, who are young, and who are old. We work with couples who are married, engaged, living together, or dating. We find that there are many reasons, no matter what stage of a relationship a couple is in, whether for premarital counseling or celebrating their silver wedding anniversary, couples can benefit from attending therapy sessions.
There are many issues we can address in couples counseling, including:
- Anger issues
- Chronic health issues
- Communication difficulties
- Emotional distance
- Financial issues
- Frequent conflict
- Gambling addiction
- Infertility
- Issues with in-laws, blended families, or other family dynamic issues
- Parenting issues
- Sexual issues
- Substance abuse issues
During couples therapist sessions, couples will learn just what the dynamics are in a relationship that keeps the conflicts going, as well as learn how each of them contribute to those dynamics. By learning what their role is in perpetuating issues, instead of just focusing on what their partner’s role is, they can change the way they address these issues and focus on a more positive result.
In order for couples counseling to be successful, both partners must be willing to change negative behaviors that impact how they interact with each other, whether dealing with major issues or everyday issues.
The majority of couples who participate in couples counseling end up learning how the patterns that have developed in their relationship impact the negative and positive parts of being a couple. They also learn healthy skills to better communicate with their partners and work through problems together instead of against each other.
What is it Like to Go to Therapy?
Every Bethesda, MD couples therapist has his or her own style, but you can be rest assured that therapists at Lindsey Hoskins & Associates will approach your particular situation with compassion and empathy. You can expect in your first session for your therapist to spend time getting to know both you and your partner. By tapping into what’s really going on in your relationship, your therapist will help you narrow down what you would like to work on.
Couples therapy requires both you and your partner to make an effort. Although your couples therapist can help give you the tools, he or she cannot “fix” your relationship. It will be important that you both take the tools and homework you receive during your session and apply them in your day-to-day lives with one another.
What Tools Will You Be Given?
Not everyone is the same, so it’s important to work with someone who will be attuned to you and your specific situation. At Lindsey Hoskins & Associates, we pride ourselves on tailoring plans of care that are supportive of our clients’ needs. Your Bethesda couples therapist will give you coping skills to help you and your partner manage conflict in a healthier way.
Our trained clinicians are experienced in working with couples in building healthy relationships with each other. We use a variety of therapeutic approaches to help our clients make changes and develop skills for coping. Don’t wait; contact Lindsey Hoskins & Associates today at (703) 372-9448 to schedule an appointment with a couples therapist from Maryland at our practice today.