Your relationship is going through one of ‘those’ patches. You look at him and it doesn’t glow in quite the same way. You look at her and feel a degree of disappointment. What to do?

You know in American movies they go to therapy and see some Woody Allen type who makes matters worse but you also have heard that sometimes it can help. Would you dare?

Here is some good news. Researchers in Sweden decided to ask this same question and also to ask if the sorts of things therapists do in America also work for couples in other places and cultures. They took a look at a group of 16 therapists and their clients, 317 couples and studied them for two years. The couples filled out a range of questionnaires about themselves as individuals, their relationship and their family.

At the conclusion of the study they found that despite the fact that both men and women came to therapy with serious problems the outcomes were positive. Not only that, they were still positive two years later. Most people only needed to attend for a short time, on average for five sessions, although of course some situations did require more meetings.

The authors concluded that many of the couples made positive gains from the treatment and may well have protected themselves from more serious problems later in their relationship.

So, perhaps its worth another thought……..

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