An evidence based treatment for couples where the relationship can be used as a resource for recovery from depression.
You can make a self referral by using our self -referral form or by calling 024 7667 1090 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 4:30pm). Our referral advisors will take a few details and book you in for a triage appointment. This first appointment is usually over the telephone.
People might benefit from couple therapy for many different reasons. It may be that the relationship has broken down or that there is anxiety that it might not. Sustaining a fulfilling and stable relationship is never easy. Pressures from work, money, children, family tensions and ill health can all contribute to creating problems and these problems can lead to depression and other difficulties. Sometimes couples can't talk to each other, and meeting with a couple therapist can open a way to better communication, which is a key part of improving relationships. Couple therapy aims to help you achieve:
Depression and its effect on relationships
People who are depressed often find their relationships suffer and sometimes problems in the relationship can lead to one or other partner becoming depressed or anxious. Couple Therapy for Depression deals with both the depression and the relationship distress.
Depression can affect people in lots of different ways. Typical symptoms are:
Couple Therapy for Depression (CTfD) helps people suffering from depression by using the relationship as a resource to help support the individual and their partner.
It is an 'evidence-based' therapy, as research has shown that this kind of couple therapy works. There are other types of talking therapies that can help individuals suffering from anxiety and depression; however, this focuses on the relationship in the context of depression.
These symptoms often come with feelings of guilt, worthlessness and low self-esteem, along with loss of confidence and feelings of helplessness, all of which can have an effect on the quality of close relationships. Talking therapy is an effective treatment for mild to moderate depression.
Couple therapy helps those who are suffering from depression by reducing the kinds of things that make partners feel alone and distressed, or which push partners apart and make them feel angry with each other. It improves your relationship by helping you both to work together on the things that create unhappiness and to move on from stuck and sometimes hostile patterns of interaction. It helps you to understand each other at an emotional level as well as a practical one (how you feel and what you do). It gives you skills as well as understanding. This can lead to a happier and more fulfilling relationship in which differences between you are not so problematic. This relieves depression which in turn improves your relationship. This positive cycle improves mood and emotional wellbeing.
Everyone's therapy will be a bit different but couple therapy aims to help you and your partner explore and understand more about your difficulties, and then find solutions to them. Working together with a couple therapist, you will talk about issues that trouble you and your partner. Together, you will explore new ways to relate to each other, gaining greater understanding of your own and your partner's feelings, and learning communication and problem solving skills if needed. Couple therapists know that depression can affect how people behave as well as how they feel, and they help couples to regain previous strengths as well as develop new ones.
Your couple therapist is responsible for ensuring that your sessions take place at a regular time, in a setting where you can be sure of confidentiality. Your couple therapist will not take sides, though they may sometimes feel challenging to one or the other of you. They will point out things that go on between you that you might not be very aware of, but which make your relationship less satisfying than it could be. They will help you understand the ways that depression affects both of you, and how it is connected to the distress in your relationship. They will make links between ways that you have been brought-up and what you expect from a relationship, and they will build on the strengths that you already have as a couple.
There may be some variation in the number of sessions you are offered according to the way your local service is run. For Couple Therapy for Depression to be effective, for most people, you should have between 15-20 sessions of couple therapy over a period of six months or so. Within NHS services, sessions are typically held weekly and usually last between 50-60 minutes. In some cases, sessions maybe offered on a less frequent basis, for example fortnightly rather than weekly. There should be a clear agreement between you and your couple therapist on these arrangements. Some couples will find they require more, but no therapy should just stop the moment you feel better. There needs to be a relapse prevention plan for each couple, based on changes they have achieved during the therapy.