The Importance of Premarital Counseling for Engaged Couples
For engaged couples planning to marry, premarital counseling is recommended. It is essential to gain insights into married life.
Many might view premarital counseling as merely a “formality” before marriage. However, premarital counseling provides numerous benefits for couples before they embark on their married life.
Counseling sessions conducted with a marriage counselor or psychologist may incur significant costs. Nonetheless, these premarital counseling sessions can offer long-term benefits and help improve the quality of marriage in the future.
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Is Premarital Counseling Necessary for Engaged Couples?
Often underestimated, premarital counseling offers substantial benefits in navigating married life, such as:
1. Good Family Planning
Premarital counseling helps couples in effective family planning. This includes addressing household issues, building effective communication with in-laws, understanding roles and responsibilities as husband and wife, and managing finances effectively.
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The role of premarital counseling is crucial to ensure newlywed couples are well-prepared to build a harmonious family.
2. Reducing the Risk of Divorce
A study published in the Journal of Family Psychology states that couples who undergo premarital counseling are less likely to divorce compared to those who do not attend such sessions.
This is because premarital counseling helps identify fears, beliefs, desires, and needs in building a married life.
By attending premarital counseling, couples can confront fears and apply shared values in their married life.
3. Sharing Experiences with Premarital Counselors
Limited experience often leads to strained relationships between spouses. Therefore, premarital counseling plays a role in teaching how to build a healthy marriage.
Individuals with significant marriage experience can help couples address challenges in married life. Couples can ask questions about building a happy and lasting marriage.
4. Preparing for Pregnancy
Premarital counseling can also assist in preparing for pregnancy. This includes determining the right time to conceive and calculating safe and appropriate pregnancy spacing.
Additionally, premarital counseling helps couples prepare for pregnancy, childbirth, and even raising children in the future.
Is Health Testing Before Marriage Necessary?
Beyond premarital counseling, health tests before marriage are also essential. These should be done with mutual agreement and without coercion.
Health tests before marriage aim to determine each partner’s health status and history, including fertility conditions. This allows couples to identify potential health risks early on and address them promptly.
Some health tests that should be conducted include blood tests, reproductive health assessments, TORCH screening, hepatitis B testing, and tests for sexually transmitted infections.
These are some of the benefits of premarital counseling and health testing for engaged couples. Therefore, schedule an appointment with your doctor for a health test before marriage.
Source:
- Williamson, HC., et al. (2018). Premarital Education and Later Relationship Help-seeking. J Fam Psychol. 2018 Mar; 32(2): 276–281.
- Amato, PR., et al. (2004). The Consequences of Divorce for Adults and Children. Journal of Marriage and Family, Volume 62, Issue 4 p. 1269-1287.
- Davoodvandi, M., et al. (2018). Examining the Effectiveness of Gottman Couple Therapy on Improving Marital Adjustment and Couples’ Intimacy. Iran J Psychiatry. 2018 Apr;13(2):135-141.
