Reasons Why You should go to Couples Therapy

Couples Therapy

Couples therapy sounds quite scary because of its association with serious problems in relationships. However, experts have a different opinion about couples therapy as it can be useful in all stages of the relationship, including when you think everything is okay and everyone is happy. One of the major benefits of visiting a couples counselor is that it teaches you and your significant other vital communication skills. You can use these skills in something as small as where you want to go for dinner to something as big as where you want to go for a vacation. A therapist will always make your relationship stronger, regardless of where your relationship might be. Here are five reasons on why you should go to couples therapy

1. When someone cheats

Although dealing with cheating is often a delicate situation, therapists can cut through the explosive feelings and bring stability and hope in an otherwise haywire situation. You should know that affairs happen for a reason. Therapists enable you and your partner to see what was the reason behind the affair, which can be instrumental in deciding if you want to break it off or fix the relationship. Counselors will guide you through the entire process regardless of the outcome.

2. Sex isn’t great

The vast majority of the couples are uncomfortable talking about what goes on under the blankets, especially when there is a problem. A therapist will open up the conversation and provide a vocabulary that the couples can use to talk about their problems. The therapist will make the problems look normal and will also provide additional scientific context to back it up. Also, therapists will help in getting your sex life back on track.

3. You and your significant other have money problems

It’s quite stressful to manage your own money but when you add your significant other’s debt, financial problems, or budget into the mix, you have a great recipe for a recurring fight. Most of the time, people associate fear with money, due to their personal history. Without professional help, it will be challenging to navigate through this problem. Whether you and your significant other are fighting about how to split a check or any other financial matter, a counselor will help in understanding the root causes behind them.

4. You want to break it off

You should know that you can use couples therapy when you want to break it off with the significant other on good terms, which is extremely useful when you have kids. A counselor will help you and your significant other, figure out whether it is a good idea to break up and work through the problems behind this drastic decision. By doing this, you will be at peace when you break it off. Also, the counselor will help in figuring out how to share custody of kids and pets, if any.

5. You’ve reached a relationship goal

Usually, couples wait until a problem arises before reaching out to a counselor. However, discovering these problems when you reach a relationship goal such as getting married or moving in together before they crop up will save a lot of hours and heartache in therapy. Going to a counselor during the early stages of your relationship will help in developing tools to work through the relationship without therapy during the later stages of the relationship. A therapist will ensure that there is effective communication and understanding between you and your significant other.

These are the five reasons why you should go to couples therapy. Every couple has their own set of problems, which a therapist can fix effectively through counseling.

Collaborative Therapeutic Services (CTS) seeks to maximize clients’ options by offering a variety of services, hours, locations and service providers with diverse specializations. We offer evening & weekend appointments. Have questions? Contact Us Here or Call 813-951-7346. Locations in Tampa & Brandon.

What is Play Therapy?

Children and Play Therapy

Children require therapy as well, especially to deal with issues that are affecting their day to day lives. A form of therapy aimed specifically at children, Play Therapy hopes to encourage the child to explore those events from their lives that are currently impacting their current circumstances. The location is usually picked by the child, for this kind of therapy and they are engaged not only through play, but through language as well, Through counselling, counselors can help the child to communicate repressed thoughts, deal with unresolved issues and undergo personal growth.

Why is the concept of ‘play’ so integral to this form of therapy? Research shows that Play is essentially important for children who have experienced prior trauma. Effects a child experiences because of trauma can be found in the nonverbal locations of the brain. These include, amygdala, hippocampus, thalamus and brain stem, at the same time the location for where people deal with issues resides in the frontal lobe of the brain. Because of this, a child suffering from trauma might not be able to indicate that they have a problem. Play Therapy utilizes physical as well as role-playing activities that have proven to be widely successful in moving these memories from the nonverbal areas to the frontal lobe area of the brain.

How Can Play Therapy Help?

A child who is suffering from adverse personal issues might result in acting out in several different ways. Parents, even if they want to, cannot help or engage with the child at this point of time. This is where Play Therapy becomes important. Specially designed to communicate with children suffering from personal issues, Play Therapy helps them to resolve those problems to become emotionally strong. Although this treatment may benefit people of all ages, it is primarily designed to engage with children under the age of twelve.

The therapy room is specially designed to create an environment where a child can feel safe and secure, and be able to release their feelings in an effort to resolve them. The therapy room is also known as a playroom, and it is filled with toys. But these just are not any toys, they are toys designed to better understand how a child is feeling, as he engages with the items around him. The interaction the child has with these toys serve to provide as symbolism for what the child is feeling. In this manner, the therapist learns about aspects of the child that the child would otherwise not have been able to express by themselves. At the beginning of Play Therapy, the children are free to play as they wish, but as time goes on – the therapist might start to introduce specific items in an effort to better gauge how the child is feeling. Play Therapy can help the child to better improving by developing their social skills, teaching them how to make positive decisions, encouraging the expression of emotions, creating new patterns of thought and behavior, and through teaching the child that it is important to express how they are feeling and communicate with others.

Play Therapy for Adults

Play therapy can also be used to treat issues faced by teenagers and adults. By adulthood, most people have lost their ability to playfully explore themselves. Play therapists are trained to help adolescents, adults, and even the elderly relearn the values of play. Playful exploration has been proven to enhance both cognitive and physical behaviors, and there is a significant amount of research from the fields of neurophysiology and molecular biology that supports play therapy as a valid therapeutic technique for those past childhood. A growing number of organizations and experts are dedicated to play research and advocacy, believing that play is important for people of all ages.

Play therapy can be used to treat (in children or adults):

• Dementia
• Grief and loss
• Posttraumatic stress (PTSD)
• Obsessions and compulsions
• Attention deficit hyperactivity
• Mood issues
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Developmental issues
• Arrested emotional development

Collaborative Therapeutic Services (CTS) seeks to maximize clients’ options by offering a variety of services, hours, locations and service providers with diverse specializations. We offer evening & weekend appointments. Have questions? Contact Us Here or Call 813-951-7346. Locations in Tampa & Brandon.

Therapy for LGBTQ Issues, Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation

LGBTQ Relantionship Issues

Developing feelings of love or passion towards someone is not something to feel traumatized about. And yet there are many people who feel as if they have suffered in some way because of the gender they associate with, or because of their sexual orientation. People who are LGBTQ also often experience stress related to not just being a minority in the world, but also because of the stigma they face in various places. When going for therapy for issues related to your sexual orientation, gender identity, or romance related queries – it is important to go to a therapist who is a trained professional who excels in their field. This is to ensure the success of the therapy, as having the wrong counselor can work towards making the situation worse.

The full form of LGBTQ is Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer. The ‘Q’ can also stand for questioning – that is to say, that they are unsure about their sexual orientation. An LGBTQ person may face a broad range of issues while growing up. Starting from feeling isolated in their environment, to not understanding why they feel the way that they do, they can even be frightened of coming out to their own family. And that is largely not without fault – many families refuse to accept their children, if they come out as gay. This makes them hesitant to tell their family and creates a stressful situation for them. Similarly, venturing out into the world, they may feel as if they are isolated – that not many people understand them. They may feel as if their lives are distinctly different from those of the people around them, and this might cause them to become anxious and depressed.

Transgender Therapy

Those dealing with gender related issues may feel the same way. Some people might even want to transition from one gender to another but may feel conflicted about it due to the way the world around them operates. By engaging in good counselling, their issues could be well resolved and they could be on the road towards healing. Although most therapists are qualified to deal with LGBTQ issues, most members of the community feel more comfortable when they are opening up to a therapist who is also LGBTQ, or at least someone with wide experience in the field. It is also important to remember that anyone seeking to change their gender would need to go through mandatory counselling before. While such therapists may not be found in all communities – more and more counsellors have started offering distance services, and this could be massively beneficial to those members of the LGBTQ family who are looking for professional help.

What Issues Might LGBTQ People Face?

Despite rapidly growing cultural acceptance of diverse sexual and romantic orientations and gender identifications, oppression, discrimination, and marginalization of LGBTQ people persists. Coping with discrimination and oppression, coming out to one’s family, and sorting out an “authentic” sense of self in the face of social expectations and pressures can lead to higher levels of depression, anxiety, substance use, and other mental health concerns for LGBTQ people.

There is ample evidence that societal prejudice causes significant medical, psychological and other harms to LGBTQ people. For example, research on the issue of family acceptance of LGBTQ youth conducted at San Francisco State University found that "compared with LGBTQ young people who were not rejected or were only a little rejected by their parents and caregivers because of their gay or transgender identity, highly rejected LGBTQ young people were:

Undergoing counselling can be a good way to release pent up emotions, and work towards healing inner issues. By fully exploring what is bothering the person, their inner complexity slowly starts to make way towards a rational and happy approach to life. By understanding that there is nothing wrong with them, and finding a place where they can safely express themselves, they learn to open up their emotions.

Collaborative Therapeutic Services (CTS) seeks to maximize clients’ options by offering a variety of services, hours, locations and service providers with diverse specializations. We offer evening & weekend appointments. Have questions? Contact Us Here or Call 813-951-7346. Locations in Tampa & Brandon,