But does marital therapy work? Not nearly as well as it should, researchers say. Two years after ending counseling, studies find, 25 percent of couples are worse off than they were when they started, and after four years, up to 38 percent are divorced.” (New York Times )
I have conflicting thoughts about this news. First, I welcome the continuing trend toward recognizing that the emperor has no clothes in mental health care. I found it big news when research strongly supported the counterintuitive conclusion the critical incident debriefing and other emergency intervention techniques after traumas may not prevent survivors from developing post-traumatic stress. In fact, they may increase the risk. Similarly, we now learn that couples therapy may not save troubled relationships.
But is that evidence it is ineffective? In a great many cases, talking about a couple’s problems frankly may hasten the end of a doomed relationship, which is in my opinion as legitimate a purpose of couples therapy as saving a relationship at all costs. After all, the therapist is not making the decision about whether the marriage lives or dies; s/he is just facilitating the couple getting to what they really want.
