Does Marriage Counseling Work?

According to an article published by the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, the answer is: Yes, marriage counseling is effective in helping couples deal with their problems. This article provides some objective information based on data obtained from a national survey of marriage and family counselors and their clients.

The research was an attempt to discover, on a more scientific level, the effectiveness of couples counseling. In the research, clients of marriage and family counselors from 15 different states reported on their experience with counseling. The findings indicated that clients were very satisfied with the help they received and felt it improved their relationship.

Specifically, 526 marriage and family counselors and their clients were surveyed from 15 different states. These couples reported the following:

98.1% rated services good or excellent

97.1% got the kind of help they desired

91.2% were satisfied with the amount of help they received

93% said they were helped in dealing more effectively with problems

94.3% would return to the same therapist in the future

96.9% would recommend their therapist to a friend

97.4% were generally satisfied with the service they received

63.4% reported improved physical health

54.8% reported improvement in functioning at work

73.7% indicated improvement in children’s behavior

58.7% showed improvement in children’s school performance