By Mayo Clinic staff

Marriage counseling typically brings couples or partners together for joint therapy sessions. Working with a therapist, you'll learn skills to solidify your relationship. These skills may include communicating openly, problem solving together and discussing differences rationally. You'll analyze both the good and bad parts of your relationship as you pinpoint and better understand the sources of your conflicts.

Talking about your problems with a marriage counselor may not be easy. Sessions may pass in silence as you and your partner seethe over perceived wrongs — or you may bring your fights with you, yelling and arguing during sessions. Both are OK. Your therapist can act as mediator or referee and help you cope with the resulting emotions and turmoil.

If you or your partner is coping with mental illness, substance abuse or other issues, your therapist may work with other health care providers to provide a complete spectrum of treatment.

If your partner refuses to attend marriage counseling sessions, you can go by yourself. It's more challenging to patch up a relationship when only one partner is willing to go to therapy, but you can still benefit by learning more about your reactions and behavior in the relationship.

Marriage counseling is often short term. You may need only a few sessions to help you weather a crisis — or you may need marriage counseling for several months, particularly if your relationship has greatly deteriorated. The specific treatment plan will depend on the situation. In some cases, marriage counseling helps couples discover that their differences truly are irreconcilable and that it's best to end the relationship.

Making the decision to go to marriage counseling can be tough. But marriage counseling can help you better cope with a troubled relationship — rather than trying to ignore it or hoping it gets better on its own.