Hope-Focused Marriage Counseling Information
There are many couples looking for marriage therapy, in fact the amount of people seeking for help with their marriage problems are bigger than for those looking for help with anxiety, depression, crisis and past traumas.
When marital problems and conflicts are getting too big, many couples seek help from their pastors. Often the advice they receive is not working and will cause disappointed couples to divorce and leave the church.
Professional marriage therapists are able to help about 50% of the couples that are attending therapy. It is natural to beleive that these numbers also apply to pastors. To increase the success rate, it is a must for pastors to be able to offer effective counseling. This is why learning hope-focues marriage counseling techniques is very useful for pastors.
Everett L. Worthington, Jr., Ph.D is the author of Hope-Focused marriage counseling. The book was written to help couples through serious marital difficulties in an effective and compassionate way. Contrary to some counseling methods, this is a method that is hope-focused rather than problem-focused and help the couple experience that change is possible.
In his book he offers a three-part hope-focused approach to counseling that teaches couples methods they can use to help them change and to strengthen their determination to wait on God.
We all have our areas of weakness that we may have to work on. Worthington’s method help couples correct their weaknesses and the book is further exploring eight areas in which couples often experience marital problems.
The main focus of this therapy method is fostering hope between the lovers, using principles from the Holy Scripture and depending on the Holy Spirit to work in the couple and help them work with challenges and conflicts. A variety of psychological techniques are integrated with Christianity to form this counseling method.
In hope-focused marriage counseling, hope is defined as having willpower or desire to change, knowledge of how to change, as well as having waitpower or a faith that Jesus is always there and helping us get through it. Hope is a must to change and is therefor emphasized througout the counseling sessions.
For many marital therapists and couples the goal is to improve marriages and reduce the divorce rate, while others view is that the goal is finding out what is best for each individual. In hope-focused marriage counseling divorce is always considered a failure, however, that does not mean that saving the marriage is always the most important priority. The safety of the couple looking for relationship counseling is always the most important consideration.
Find more Christian marriage counseling advice to help save your marriage. Learn how the key concepts in Hope-Focused marriage can help you experience that change is possible.