Couples and Marital Counseling
Couples and Marital Counseling with Dr. Kovner is based on 30 years of research on what happily married couples do right. Couples come to counseling in distress and cannot manage their negativity. They fight over differences between them that can become extreme. The negativity comes out in the form of criticism, defensiveness, stonewalling and contempt (The Four Horsemen).
Over time, distressed couples find that all of their interaction is pervasive. They argue over everything, the minors and the majors. They often don’t know why they are fighting or what provoked them. They just feel negative.
Learning to manage that negativity is the first stage of therapy. In Couples and Marital Counseling, clients learn how to make repairs, collaborate and listen, then melt away their defensiveness. Once they have learned to manage negativity, they can start back on the track of problem-solving and building back their friendship and intimacy.
The length of Marital Counseling varies from client to client and can take as long 18 months for couples to learn to consistently manage negativity without assistance. The process is most effective when couples spend their time between sessions doing homework assignments and exercises. It is not uncommon for couples to become disrupted by busy schedules, baby sitting arrangements and work. As a result, their progress may become slow. A solution is to attend more frequent sessions, perhaps twice a week.
Call now for an appointment at (770) 312-2319