What can we expect from couples therapy/counseling and why do we need it at all?

Carl Rogers – “Relationships are like a mirror in which we see ourselves. They are a challenge to become the best version of ourselves.”

Couple counseling can be a valuable support in both private and professional contexts, as relationship issues are not limited to the home. In the private sphere, it is often emotional, trust-related or everyday issues that need to be clarified. In the company, it is often a matter of overcoming professional challenges that can arise, for example, from different expectations, communication problems or understanding of roles. Both contexts bring with them specific challenges - and through targeted counseling, strategies can be developed to create a healthy and stable relationship in both areas.

Couples often seek couples therapy when they experience conflicts or challenges that they cannot resolve on their own. The most common causes described by couples are:


  1. Communication problems: Difficulties in expressing needs and feelings clearly and respectfully often lead to misunderstandings or ongoing conflicts. Therapy can help to find new ways of communicating and to clear up entrenched misunderstandings.
  2. Breaches of trust, such as affairs: Infidelity puts a relationship to the test and can cause deep hurt. A neutral professional supports couples in working through painful issues, restoring mutual trust and finding out whether and how they want to continue the relationship.
  3. Unfulfilled wishes and needs: Different ideas or wishes - be it in terms of closeness, intimacy or personal goals - can lead to frustration and distance. The therapeutic framework offers couples the opportunity to openly address these issues and find common solutions.
  4. Life changes, such as the transition to parenthood or professional challenges: major life changes often bring with them stresses that also affect the relationship. Therapy can help to find a new balance and emerge from the changes stronger as a couple.
  5. Changing unconscious behavioral patterns: Couples often fall into patterns that are difficult to break without outside help. In couples therapy, such patterns can be identified and new courses of action developed.


Couples therapy offers couples a valuable opportunity to work on their problems under supervision, to understand each other better and to create a satisfying relationship. It is particularly important that a safe space is provided for both partners so that no further injuries arise.

Since every couple is unique, every couples counseling session is also individual. However, to give you an idea of what might be discussed in a counseling session, here are some typical topics:

  • Understanding the current state of the relationship: What concerns us as a couple?
  • Better understand your own feelings and reactions as well as those of your partner
  • As a couple, recognize what holds the relationship together and strengthens it
  • Discovering resources and potential within the partnership
  • Finding out what blocks access to these potentials
  • Develop perspectives on how to create a fulfilling coexistence or a respectful separation
  • Create conditions under which both partners can grow and develop

Such and similar topics are mainly addressed through discussion, occasionally with the help of other methods.

Whether you choose counseling or therapy, together we will find out what support your relationship needs. Couples counseling offers practical ideas and techniques to tackle challenges in everyday life or in communication. In couples therapy, on the other hand, we also look at deeper, individual and communal issues to enable sustainable changes and strengthen your relationship.