Taking Premarital Counseling Online Really Works

Getting to know your partner before you tie the knot is important, but not everyone has a lot of time to attend classes and premarital counseling beforehand. That's why premarital counseling online can be a great step in the right direction. 

You'll be able to get through all the same information and work with your partner the way you want, but without having to go to a camp, a program or even regular sessions at a couple’s counseling office. Instead, you can do it all right online, whenever you have time.

What is premarital counseling?

Premarital counseling is a tool to help you and your partner get to know each other even better before you married. It can also help you and your partner avoid common obstacles to a happy marriage by teaching you effective communication, conflict resolution, and problem-solving skills. According to the Mayo Clinic, premarital counseling usually includes discussions about:

• Finances
• Communication
• Beliefs and values
• Roles in marriage
• Affection and sex
• Desire to have children
• Family relationships
• Decision making
• Dealing with anger
• Time spent together

In professional premarital counseling, these discussions are guided by a licensed marriage therapist or counselor. Your counselor can help you determine which of these areas are the most important to your relationship. They may be able to help you and your partner address any small tensions before they turn into possible conflicts that threaten your relationship.

What is online counseling?

Any psychotherapeutic interaction with a psychologist, therapist, or counselor over the phone, video chat, email, text, or chat room link is technically considered telehealth. Online counseling falls under this umbrella term. This just means that you're doing some form of counseling in a way other than face-to-face with a therapist. In this case, you're doing it online.

There are several ways of doing online counseling. These include live video or voice calls with a therapist, written exchanges over email or text messaging, and communication via a chat room. Live video or voice calls are designed to most closely mimic traditional therapy or counseling sessions, while text-based online counseling usually doesn't require appointments.

Why go through premarital counseling?

By going through premarital counseling, you and your partner will be able to understand better what each of you is expecting, and that can make sure you both are on the same page with the important things. Women's Health reports that couples who invest in premarital counseling report higher relationship satisfaction and better relationship quality. Couples who engage in premarital counseling enter marriage with more realistic expectations and a stronger commitment to each other. They generally have an easier time with the lifestyle adjustments that married couples often experience post-wedding.

In addition to smoother adjustments at the beginning, premarital counseling can help couples build a more successful relationship over the long run. It's possible that the success of premarital counseling has a lot to do with timing. Since many potential conflicts are sorted out before they arise, the conflicts never turn into long-term disagreements. Also, bringing negative thoughts or feelings about your partner or relationship into the light early can help you resolve and release them before they do long-term damage.

The benefits of online counseling

Accessibility, affordability, convenience, and comfort are generally recognized as the biggest benefits of online counseling over face-to-face premarital counseling. Access, money, time, and comfort can be huge barriers to mental health care, and online counseling can help to eliminate those barriers for many people.

Accessibility

Instead of needing to live near a city or town with the right kind of therapists working in it, a couple in online counseling simply needs a reliable internet connection. Many online couples’ counseling platforms help people match their personal needs with a therapist with the proper training and background that may not be available locally. This helps ensure you get access to the best online premarital counseling for your needs.

Online counseling also eliminates transportation worries for people who share vehicles or don't have access to reliable public transportation. This can be a huge benefit to people on tight budgets or those who simply prefer to live without a car.

Affordability

In many cases, online therapy is more affordable than face-to-face therapy. This can depend on the type of online therapy chosen, the kind of treatment administered, and a person's health insurance status. For people who are paying out of pocket, online therapy will almost always be less expensive. The same is true for people who want or need treatment that is not covered by their insurance.

Convenience

For many people, needing to leave their house at a scheduled time, and being restricted to communicating with their therapist for an hour or so per week (or less), is simply inconvenient. Being able to contact a therapist or counselor through an app or messaging system at any time of the day or night feels natural to people in the age of smartphones. If a question comes to mind, or you find yourself in a difficult situation, you don't need to wait to tell your therapist about it.

Even appointment-based online marriage counseling can be more convenient than face-to-face therapy when you consider the flexibility of appointment times, and the time saved by not needing to leave the house. Being able to schedule a therapy session over a baby's nap time, or during a lunch break from work, could be the difference between getting treatment, and not being able to fit it in. The best online premarital therapy is often the one that fits easily into your schedule.

Comfort

Some people who can benefit from mental health treatment have a hard time leaving the house. For them, being able to speak to a therapist without the difficulty of going out can be a game changer. And when it comes down to it, most of us are more comfortable in our own homes than in a stranger's office.

In addition to the comfort of our own homes, some people simply feel more comfortable communicating online. For people who are accustomed to distance communication, it can be easier to have personal, or difficult conversations over text or chat than face-to-face.

Does online couple’s therapy work?

Several studies have compared the effectiveness of online counseling and face-to-face counseling, and they agree that online counseling is effective. Some studies have looked at specific modes of therapy, like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; others have explored effectiveness for specific diagnoses, like depression; and some reported on effectiveness for an array of different treatment methods and diagnoses. 

All of these studies agree that online therapy is an effective alternative treatment method for many people. In at least one study, online therapy even appears to be more effective at long-lasting treatment than face-to-face therapy.