Marriage counseling for sex and intimacy can be just what you need to bring about more connection in your relationship. Some people wonder whether marriage counseling will help improve your sex life or whether you would be better off going to sex therapy. While sex therapy can be helpful, depending on whether there is an actual sexual dysfunction, marriage counseling could actually be more effective. In fact, experiencing intensive couples therapy for intimacy problems in a retreat setting is the fastest way to get to the root cause of what really triggers intimacy avoidance, intimacy fear, sexual performance anxiety, and other issues.
Marriage Counseling or Sex Therapy?
1. Most bedroom problems start outside of the bedroom– If you are having trouble in the bedroom, your marriage is probably not so great either. If you are feeling disconnected, unsafe, and lacking emotional intimacy, you won’t necessarily be in the mental state to be connected physically either. By deepening connection with your spouse, learning how to communicate and open up, and feeling emotionally safe and intimate, you will be more motivated to be together physically as well.
2. You’ll learn to communicate your needs– Marriage counseling will empower you with the tools to communicate about your needs. One of the challenges couples experience with intimacy is that it difficult for them to open up and share their needs and feelings around the topic. Resentment can build over time if these feelings are not expressed. Learning how to communicate will enable you not to sweep things under the rug but to address them in a productive way.
It’s Not Just About Sex
3. Making time for each other– Marriage counseling will also help you learn how to prioritize and carve out time for your marriage, as well as your love life. One reason couples struggle in the bedroom is that they are tired, distracted, and just too busy. Marriage counseling will help you implement more structure for your relationship by scheduling time to be there, both to have fun and date, but also for intimacy. This will help you set aside the time and be more present.
4. There are underlying issues- There are usually underlying issues that are getting in the way of all aspects of intimacy. Sex therapy will not necessarily address these, while the right type of marriage counseling will. By exploring the underlying issues, the present conflict can be diffused, compassion elicited, and real change accomplished.
While there are many ways to improve your sex life, if you don’t address some of the relationship issues at play, you will not truly solve the problem. Marriage counseling for sex and intimacy can serve as an effective way to look at the bigger picture, rejuvenating your relationship, and bringing you much closer together.
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