Many people suffering from mental health concerns adopt destructive or unhealthy behaviors. These behaviors can have a big impact on the patient’s personal, professional, and social life. Fortunately, these issues can be addressed through professional behavioral health therapy online in California.
While the impact on professional and social life can be devastating, the impact on personal life can be even more insidious. The stakes are higher when a loved one is involved and can be harmed by a patient’s destructive or unhealthy behaviors. This is especially a concern in a marriage where the patient’s spouse and/or children can be affected. That’s one of the reasons why experts recommend exploring the option of behavioral health therapy.
Why Does Behavioral Health Therapy Work for Couples?
Behavioral health therapy has been used successfully to help couples overcome hurdles for some years now. It focuses on the evaluation of the behavior of both partners and engaging in active feedback. After the evaluation and feedback, the active healing and address process begins.
The focus of this approach is to both encourage change and acceptance. Individuals are encouraged to change their destructive behaviors and modify approaches that can be hurtful or unpleasant for their partner. On the flip side, the partner is also encouraged to accept some of the more benign aspects of their partner’s personality as long as they aren’t actively harmful to them.
According to the experts in the field, if the positive interactions in a relationship occur more times than any negative interaction, the relationship is healthy. Early research showed that the ratio was 5:1. If a couple had one negative interaction in five positive interactions, their relationship was less likely to end in separation.
However, it was also observed that if the ratio tipped further than this during a relationship, it was over 90% more likely to end in separation.
That’s one of the reasons why behavioral health therapy online in California can be a boon for couples struggling to overcome their relationship problems. There is a focus on identifying and cataloging the amount of negative interaction vs. positive interaction to get the best results. If you find yourself in a deadlock that you can’t escape from, getting a professional third-party involved can help significantly.
Black Couple Therapist Online in California
Problems in romantic relationships are universal but people of different races, ethnicities, and nationalities require different approaches. For example, marriage between a Chinese couple would require a different approach depending on the people’s cultural background and attitude towards marriage or being together. Similarly, a black couple requires a therapist that can understand their cultural background and attitude towards a relationship, which is why a black couple therapist online in California is suitable for getting help in such cases.
How will behavioral therapy work for black couples? How can behavioral health therapy works to help you overcome your differences? Here’s a look at the two phases of this type of therapy:
1. Evaluating and Understanding Each Other’s Behavior
The first aspect of behavioral health therapy is to understand behaviors, personalities, and the root cause of issues in both individuals. A black couple therapist online in California will either provide a questionnaire or ask some guiding questions during individual sessions to understand the landscape.
These questions will help the therapist understand the different perspectives of the individuals involved and identify the key clashing points. This is a very important process because you can’t just treat the symptom and assume that everything will be alright. You need to treat the underlying cause before things get better.
A therapist is observant, detail-oriented, and attentive. They will encourage dialogue between the couple and see how they interact with each other. The evaluation process can take a few sessions and the experience can be a little stressful for the couple involved because they are essentially airing out their dirty laundry in front of a stranger.
However, after a few sessions, even the couples with the guiding hand of the therapist can identify the issues. That’s one of the reasons why it is important for people to attend therapy. The presence of a professional is often necessary to start a dialogue and make people a little more self-aware.
2. Active Discussions
Once the therapist understands the different aspects of the couple’s relationship and their issues, the tone of the sessions changes. The focus shifts to healing and repair so that the couple can move forward in their relationship. There are two things the therapist focuses on during this session and what’s what needs to change and what needs to be accepted.
The goal is often to ensure the most destructive behaviors need to change. Things like dependency on drugs or alcohol, uncontrolled anger, poor communication, active sabotage, deliberate provocation, etc, are negative behaviors that can harm a relationship. A therapist will make patients identify these behaviors and their root cause to address them.
The next step is to encourage acceptance. There are some things about your partner you may not like after you get into a long-term relationship with them. For example, if your partner has a poor memory for dates and forgets special occasions often, there are ways to accept and work around this. If the partner has certain habits that are irritating but not destructive, you can work on acceptance instead of change.
The focus on acceptance is what makes modern behavioral health therapy so effective compared to the other therapy alternatives. There is less pressure to become perfect and more encouragement to become accepting. Both partners benefit from this.
Black Therapy Online in California
The therapy itself is effective but what about attending sessions online? Is there any difference between online therapy and traditional face-to-face therapy? Many people choose black therapy online in California over traditional options.
Research suggests that online therapy is just as effective as traditional therapy and sometimes more so. It has a lower drop rate and higher success rate because it is so private and easy to use. You can attend sessions from the comfort of your home without anyone noticing you are going to therapy. Black therapy online in California also helps if you live separately or are divided by distance. It is easier to attend sessions online even if you’re in different parts of the country.