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A central issue in the lives of today's adults is the decision to commit to another adult; in other words, a choice is made between isolation or intimacy. Since (statistically speaking) most adults eventually become married, the attraction of being part of a couple would seem obvious. However, another common statistic states that over half of all marriages end in divorce. This would seem to indicate that the goal of being in a coupled relationship does not necessarily lead to its achievement. As is true of all living organisms, couples go through developmental stages in their relationship ranging from the Honeymoon Phase (or the beginning of coupling) through the End Phase (or the end of the relationship through divorce or death of a spouse).
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| Factors which can "uncouple" two people include alcohol and drug abuse, fertility issues, differences over child-rearing practices, financial conflict, and work- and health-related concerns. Individual psychological and emotional concerns of the couple also enter into this process and (while often the result of unresolved issues from childhood and adolescence) can express themselves in such ways as child abuse, domestic violence, and infidelity. Having children poses special stresses as the couple struggles to establish effective dynamics as a family. At times, it seems difficult to remember that two (or more!) different individuals can come together into one unit!
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Rather than simply accepting the 50 per cent rate of couple disintegration as inevitable, many couples choose to work on their union with a trained professional. Research tells us that couples counseling can be effective in preserving a couple with a success rate between 50 and 80 per cent. This is directly comparable to the success rate of psychotropic drugs in dealing with individual psychological and emotional difficulties and is reason for hope. Moreover, there are certain types of couples and family therapy (known collectively as cognitive-behavioral approaches) which have been shown to be more effective than others. Dr. Garrison is a nationally-certified Cognitive-Behavioral Therapist and encourage both members of a couple to evaluate and preserve their union (where possible) and has the tools and experience to aid them in achieving this goal.
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