HANDLING MARITAL PROBLEMS

HANDLING MARITAL PROBLEMS

______________________________

Avoiding facing marital problems

Some married people avoid expressing their unhappiness to "keep peace." Although well intentioned, this concealing of your feelings and pain from your spouse month after month causes serious harm to your marriage. The quiet one is denying the truth, pretending to be happier than he/she is, minimizing the marital problems, endangering his/her own health, avoiding a vital task merely because it is stressful, trying to play it safe, acting uncaringly and hostilely towards his/her spouse, and reneging on his/her sacred vows to preserve the marriage. This is kind of keeping the peace is the kind of behavior that causes problems. Honest openness is needed to maintain a marriage. Don't cop out. Learn about "I" statements and empathy responding in chapter 13, then get to work.

Some writers, e.g. Cole & Laibson (1982), believe that the hiding of disagreements between husband and wife also gives children a distorted view of marriage and deprives the children of the chance to learn how to handle conflict. We need to realize that (1) all thinking people disagree occasionally and (2) anger doesn't have to destroy love. Many happy couples fight verbally or argue. Cole and Laibson think parents should "fight" (disagree or argue but not get verbally or physically abusive) in front of the kids and especially show the children that arguments can and should lead to workable solutions. Children shouldn't witness certain arguments, however, such as about sex, child-rearing, money, relatives, or divorce, nor should the children become involved in the argument if it is just between the parents. Always assure the children that they aren't causing the marital problems. No parent should ever involve a child as an emotional substitute for the spouse, an ally against the other parent, or as a pawn in the marital wars. The rules for fair, good, constructive "fighting" are given in chapter 13; two psychologists have written a book on how to conduct effective, beneficial family fights (Rubin & Rubin, 1988). If you can't follow these rules and the arguments become vicious, name-calling, destructive battles, both partners should get counseling.

click on title to read on

posted by Robert Heard at 9:25 AM