The Best Marital Therapy In Kansas City Can Work For You!

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Will Marital Therapy In Kansas City Put Your Marriage Back Together?

Marital Therapy Kansas City own marriage counselor Paul W. Anderson, Ph.D. says, "What ever you call it, marital therapy, marital counseling or help with marriage problems, when you and your honey are at odds and the gulf between you seems like an ocean, a good marriage therapist can help you build a bridge between the two of you."

Couples easily can find themselves paralyzed in a standoff. Both think they're right and neither will back down. As the conflict escalates, each person can begin to feel more and more isolated from their partner. This is the opposite of what couples want. As the stand-off escalates, couples often seem helpless to know what to do about it and how to return to emotional closeness.

This is where a good counselor with the skills to help a relationship deescalate the crisis can be invaluable. Often, out of despair and exhaustion, couples throw in the towel and head for divorce court, because they do not know what else to do. With a good counselor working for both of you, there are many alternatives available to you besides living helplessly in pain, or giving up and walking away from your marriage.

First Time In Marriage Counseling?

There is nothing better than doing something for the first time and finding out that is works for you. Maybe you are one of those couples who have never tried counseling before. There is still mythology about counseling. The stigma about counseling still prevails, especially in the minds of many men. These same men don't hesitate to take their cars in for regular servicing or to call the service repairman to fix a complicated refrigerator. And yet when it comes to their most prized and intimate relationship, these same men will balk at counseling with some excuse about not wanting to air their dirty laundry in public.

The old mentality that says, "We can fix our own problems," doesn't work very well anymore. Not only are the machines and technology we live with complicated, but so are our marriages and significant relationships.

Going to counseling for the first time can be a little unnerving, but your professional and competent marriage counselor, knows how to put you at ease and effectively focus on solutions to your marriage problems. Marriage and relationship counseling is not done by people who do not have the training to help you solve your problems. Most states require marriage counselors to be licensed. These licenses are not easy to come by and demand many years of graduate study and supervised clinical practice to achieve. Not only are marriage counselors and psychologists competent, but your confidentiality is preserved and protected by federal law.

Counseling is not for everyone, however, very seldom does counseling, including marriage counseling, make things worse. You might as well give it a try. The odds are in your favor, and if you're at your wits end about how to improve your marriage, what do you have to lose?

Win/Lose Means You Both Lose. Try Win/Win With Marital Therapy.

Give each other the gift of reconciliation and compromise. The irony about conflict in marriage is this: if you win and your partner loses,you both lose. In an argument each partner often thinks they are right. And looking at things from their perspective, they are right. The problem is, they are not right in what it takes to sustain peace and cooperation in an intimate relationship where people become vulnerable to each other.

Although in the heat of battle your ego may want to win at all costs, be careful that the win does not come at the cost of quality interaction in your relationship. Compromise is the essence of a healthy, durable relationship. So, you've had a heated argument with your marital partner and you dominated them with your debate and arguing skills. What have you gained? So you are right, and they concede, but in your partner's concession to your victory they may actually withdraw from you further. You are left alone with a hollow victory.

Let's say you go to marriage counseling and you are so good at convincing that you even sway the counselor to your side. The counselor then proceeds in effect to use his authority to put your spouse down and belittles them for thinking they could be right in the argument. The counselor, in effect, annihilates your spouse with embarrassment and ridicule. Like the cartoon here, does that really solve your marital problem if your spouse has no sense of personal strength in the marriage?

Marital Therapy Teaches How Talk To Understand Each Other .

Substitue Hearing and Being Heard For Marital War.

The ability to connect and to stay connected in an intimate fashion to another human being is what it takes to prevent us from feeling lonely. Most people partner up with another human being for that very purpose, to prevent isolation and loneliness. In your last argument with your spouse you have won the argument, but it is a victory that was not shared with your partner. The result is no connection, no bridging, just a hollow victory that leaves both of you feeling empty and alone. I would call that a defeat, at least for the relationship, not a victory for the two of you.

What's called for in marital conflict, are the skills to negotiate compromises so that in effect the outcome of arguments results in win-win. Each partner gets something of what they need. Even though it may not be all that they want, it is enough to live with and continue the relationship. A good marriage counselor helps couples learn the skills of win-win conflict resolution.

The desired outcome is to be heard and to hear, to be understood and to understand. Having to battle it out until one spouse forces the other one to agree with them is not the solution to division and separation. Being a listening post for your spouse is.

What Does A Marital Therapist Do To Save Your Marriage?

Nothing. But the marriage counselor sure will have a lot of things for you the couple to try out so you can save your own marriage. Competent marriage counselors are not trying to make or break relationships. Rather, they teach couples how to chose and achieve their own goals.

Often this includes learning communication skills, win-win conflict management skills, and how to fight fair by the rules. Couples are taught how to manage their anxiety around each other so that they can continue being thoughtful in what they say and do with each other.

Anger at your spouse or loved one is a reality in today's modern relationships. Many of us store up anger throughout the day and have a tendency to ventilate at home. This kick the dog (or kick the spouse) syndrome does not add quality to your relationship. And many people understand that. So when they go home after a trying day, in an effort to preserve the relationship, they will end up withdrawing into themselves and not communicating with their spouse. This isn't healthy either.

This dilemma, this feeling of darned if I talk and darned if I don't, begins to suffocate the life out of a relationship. The lifeblood of a relationship is dialogue, conversation and verbal interaction. Marriage counseling teaches couples the priceless skills that are essential to sustaining the marriage you will want to stay in.

Building Bridges Is Not Easy, But Your Marital Therapist Will Help Get The Job Done. 

Some One You Can Trust To Build A Bridge For You And Your Partner.

I am Paul W. Anderson, Ph.D.. and I have been helping couples in the Kansas City area feel better and regain emotional closeness for over 20 years. My job is to help you find solutions to your marriage problems.

I'll show you proven shortcuts you can use to fix your troubled relationship. My unusual tips and techniques will make Marital Therapy in Kansas City work for you.

Call me today: 913-901-9110.

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I am Paul W. Anderson, Ph.D., a licensed family psychologist. I have coached people in their careers, relationships and business aspirations for many... more »

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