Many couples find the need for marriage therapy in Chicago especially since the Covid-19 Pandemic added extra stress to their relationships.
Why isn’t marriage therapy in Chicago easy to afford?
The main reason marriage counseling isn’t affordable is because many insurance companies don’t cover it. This means that you have to pay for it yourself and as most therapists charge at least $65 an hour, this can make it rather pricey for most couples to afford.
So how can you make marriage therapy in Chicago more budget friendly?
As Dr Scott Terry – the clinical director of Ardent Counseling Center – says, there are three things to consider – “you”, “me” and “us”. Whenever any issue affecting the relationship is looked at closely, you have to realize that sometimes it is a personal issue that can be dealt with more effectively via individual counseling rather than in marriage therapy.
For example, one of the more common issues faced by many married couples is “money”. Often one or other partner doesn’t want to discuss it in any depth or has trouble managing money.
Many people have a lot of stress and anxiety that is triggered by the mere mention of money and finances, budgets and so on. No wonder so many couples have trouble communicating clearly about it.
Although marriage counseling isn’t covered by insurance, the treatment of “anxiety” often is. And mild anxiety isn’t something that will go on your medical record as a major condition (i.e. something that many suspect will cause your health premiums to be increased).
By learning skills to manage anxiety, your counselor can help you look at your history with money and to work out new ways to be more responsible and calm in your handling and discussions about it. This can then help you to be more open about money and to communicate more clearly with your partner about it.
So by having one marriage therapy session to highlight the major issues causing tension in the relationship, you can then follow it up with individual counseling sessions which are covered by your insurance.
What other marriage counseling issues can often be more effectively addressed by individual counseling?
There are a number of issues that can be helped by individual counseling:
- when one partner gets annoyed by their spouse turning up late for meetings, this can be addressed by them learning time management skills
- when the arguments become very heated and perhaps even violent, each spouse can benefit by learning anger management skills individually
- often a major change such as moving to a new city can place a lot of stress on the relationship as new friends have to be made etc, but this be addressed via individual counseling for what is termed “adjustment disorder”.
What can help a lot of couples?
When you are tired, research has shown that you will be less likely to get jokes. You will also be more likely to become irritated by small things. So that is why it is so important to be well-rested.
Most people need at least eight hours a day of sleep. You might think you need less, but try going a day without any caffeine and see how your body really feels about sleep.
Your counselor can help you both (individually) work on your routine so you can improve your sleep hygiene. Everyone is different and it can help to identify your “chronotype” (your inner biological clock) and to adjust your routine accordingly. See The Power Of When to find out which chronotype you have.
Even just a simple thing like improving the length and quality of your sleep can have huge ramifications on your happiness together as a married couple.
Get the individual counseling you both need and also some marriage counseling as well
Hopefully the above advice will help you to strength and save your relationship by providing you with affordable marriage counseling. These tips apply whether you are a conventional couple or if you are a same gender couple or trans-gender couple. So go ahead and schedule and appointment.