Jennifer Anniston and new boyfriend Justin Theroux are in couples’ therapy, according to Grazia magazine, and have only been going out a few months. Apparently this is to work through potential relationship issues before they become reasons for splitting up. Whilst it seems a typically American approach which would never catch on here, evidence shows that the reverse may be true.
Given the rate at which British couples are divorcing, sometimes only a year or two into their married lives, we are tentatively embracing the ‘American’ approach and talking through our issues in a way which may reverse the decades old trend of increasing divorce numbers, according to Julia Llewellyn Smith writing in The Sunday Telegraph yesterday.
Couples who are married in a religious ceremony, particularly Irish Catholics, have long been obliged to attend pre-marital counselling. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were counselled by the Archbishop of Canterbury before their April nuptials.
According to Relate, which runs premarital courses on discussing issues such as finances and bringing up children (often major issues when a couple seeks a divorce) it is an important process which could effectively identify catastrophic marital issues before a couple makes that expensive walk down the aisle.
The average UK couple spends hundreds of hours planning their big day. The message seems to be that spending two or three more in couples’ therapy may prevent a new husband or wife from ever needing divorce advice. Couples may even choose to formalise their new understanding in a pre nuptial agreement.
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