Types of therapy
While most of the therapy sessions at Paracelsus Recovery take place in a one-on-one setting, couples counselling is a feature of some of our programmes. The aim of couples counselling is to help both partners navigate the challenges that recovering from mental health and addiction issues bring while fostering a healthier, more supportive relationship.
What is couples counselling?
Couples counselling, also called couples therapy or marriage counselling, is a type of therapy that helps partners improve their relationship. At Paracelsus Recovery, we include couples counseling to support the recovery of our clients as we recognise that relationship dynamics are a crucial aspect of recovery. This is based on the understanding that mental health and addiction issues never occur in a vacuum; they affect and are affected by our personal relationships. Therefore, including couples counselling as part of our treatment programmes is often vital. Participating in couples counselling involves a couple working with a therapist, counsellor, or psychologist to address challenges, improve communication, and strengthen their emotional connection. Couples counselling can address a wide range of relationship issues such as frequent arguments or miscommunication, trust issues (e.g., infidelity, dishonesty), emotional or physical intimacy challenges, and various life changes (e.g., parenting, moving, job stress, illness). Even happy couples who want to strengthen their relationship and prevent issues in the future can benefit from couples counselling.
The foundational principle of couples counselling is that relationships can only thrive when both partners feel heard, understood, and emotionally connected. This is based on the belief that conflict and relationship struggles often stem from unmet emotional needs, miscommunication, and unresolved past experiences. This is where couples counselling steps in: by providing a structured and supportive environment, counselling helps couples identify negative patterns, improve communication, and develop healthier ways of relating to one another. Couples counselling also works on the basis that relationships are dynamic and require continuous effort and adaptation if they are to thrive or even simply survive. To this end, counselling encourages couples to strengthen their emotional bond, rebuild trust, and navigate challenges together as a team. Whether addressing conflict, intimacy issues, mental health struggles, or addiction, the ultimate goal is to foster a relationship that is mutually supportive, respectful, and fulfilling for both partners.
How is couples counselling helpful?
Due to its numerous benefits, couples counselling is helpful for couples experiencing various challenges that affect their relationship. This includes mental health issues, addiction issues, eating disorders, and chronic conditions. When one half of the couple is struggling with such issues, couples counselling provides support, guidance, and tools to help both partners navigate these challenges together. At the heart of this is creating a supportive environment where both partners can gain a deeper understanding of the condition their partner is suffering from, whether that’s depression, anxiety, PTSD, substance use dependence, anorexia nervosa, sudden-wealth syndrome, or long Covid, to name just several examples. No matter the issue at hand, couples counselling helps improve communication, allowing couples to express their needs and frustrations constructively while developing healthy coping strategies. It also teaches partners how to set healthy boundaries, manage conflict, and offer emotional support without enabling destructive behaviours. Furthermore, by addressing trust issues and emotional distance that may arise from addiction or mental health struggles, counselling can help rebuild intimacy and strengthen the relationship.
In addition to fostering emotional connection, couples therapy plays a crucial role in relapse prevention and long-term well-being in the case of addictions. It equips both partners with stress management techniques and strategies to navigate triggers and setbacks together. By promoting self-care and mutual understanding, therapy supports the non-addicted partner in coping with the challenges of their loved one’s condition while encouraging the affected individual towards recovery. In some cases, counselling also provides a space for couples to explore whether staying together is the healthiest option for both individuals. Regardless of the outcome, therapy helps couples make informed decisions and build a foundation for a healthier future, whether that’s together or apart. It’s common to come away from couples counselling equipped with various tools – such as problem solving, anger management and conflict resolution skills – to better navigate future challenges as a couple. Couples counselling is suitable for couples at any stage of their relationship, whether they are married or not.
How is couples counselling included in my programme?
Couples counselling is just one element of your holistic treatment programme at Paracelsus Recovery. It is a complement to your intensive one-on-one therapy sessions and ongoing therapy with your live-in therapist. For couples counselling sessions, your partner will be present for the sessions, either online or in-person depending on your specific situation. It is important to emphasise that we will never force you to include your partner in your treatment. However, we always recommend their involvement whenever possible as the benefits far outweigh any discomfort experienced throughout the process. Alongside couples counselling, family therapy and family psychoeducation are both key features of our treatment programmes, helping families to navigate and learn about addiction, mental health conditions, triggers, relapse prevention, and coping mechanisms.
There are a variety of different approaches to couples therapy, which our highly-trained couples therapists at Paracelsus Recovery utilise depending on your unique situation. These include cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for couples, emotionally focused therapy (EFT), psychodynamic couple’s therapy, and Gottman method. In all cases, they will adopt the approaches that best suit your needs and the goals of your bespoke treatment programme. No matter the approach used, the therapeutic process usually begins with identifying both of your feelings as well as any issues, such as patterns of conflict, misunderstandings, or emotional distance that are present in your relationship. Following this, the therapist will help you explore your past to better understand how certain past events, behaviors, motivations and fears are shaping your present struggles as a couple. Using this information your therapist will then help you find solutions to your issues – ways to improve communication, build emotional intimacy, resolve conflicts in a healthy way, and better support each other.
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