Marriage and relationships in India are not just about two individuals—they are about families, culture, expectations, and unspoken duties. Love exists, but so do pressure, sacrifice, misunderstandings, and silence.
In a society where people are taught to “adjust,” “compromise,” or “keep the family together at any cost,” emotional pain often gets buried instead of healed.

This is where couple’s therapy becomes meaningful—not to assign blame, but to help two people understand, communicate, and reconnect with respect and empathy.

🇮🇳 Why Do Indian Couples Seek Therapy Today?

More couples are reaching out for help due to:

• Communication breakdown – constant fights, silent treatment, emotional withdrawal

• Mismatched expectations – romance vs responsibility, love vs traditional roles

• Joint family pressures – in-law conflicts, financial control, parenting differences

• Infertility, sexual dissatisfaction, postpartum changes

• Infidelity, trust issues, emotional neglect

• Arranged marriage adjustment – two strangers expected to become partners overnight

• Love marriages facing family rejection or caste/religion barriers

Yet, many couples wait until things are “falling apart” before seeking help—partly due to stigma, fear of judgment, or belief that therapy means failure.

🌱 What Couple’s Therapy Really Does (and Doesn’t Do)

It DOES:
✔ Help both partners understand each other’s emotions, not just words
✔ Create a safe space to express hurt without shouting or shutting down
✔ Teach evidence-based communication and conflict resolution
✔ Repair trust, intimacy, and emotional safety
✔ Address past trauma, family pressure, or sexual problems when needed

It DOES NOT:
❌ Take sides or judge who is right or wrong
❌ Promote divorce or force a couple to stay together
❌ Work like a courtroom or moral debate
❌ Replace legal advice or religious counselling

🧠 Major Models of Couple Therapy (Adapted for Indian Culture)

1. Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT)

• Works on underlying emotions like hurt, fear, longing—not just surface anger.

• Helps partners say “I feel lonely” instead of “You never care.”

• Powerful for couples feeling disconnected, especially in arranged marriages or after betrayal.

2. Gottman Method

• Based on 40+ years of research on what makes marriages last or fail.

• Focuses on: friendship, respect, gentle communication, avoiding contempt and blame.

• Very useful for urban Indian couples with constant arguments or ego clashes.

3. Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT for Couples)

• Addresses harmful patterns like assumptions, overgeneralisation (“You always…”), and criticism.

• Helps Indian couples unlearn beliefs such as “Expressing needs is selfish” or “Men shouldn’t be emotional.”

4. Integrative Behavioural Therapy (IBCT)

• Teaches both change and acceptance.

• Example: Instead of “Why can’t she be like my mother?” → learning to accept differences in upbringing, values, communication style.

5. Imago Therapy – Healing Childhood Wounds

• Many Indian partners carry trauma from strict parenting, emotional neglect, or comparison.

• Imago therapy helps understand how childhood pain shows up in marriage as anger, control, or withdrawal.

6. Family & Cultural Sensitivity

• In India, therapy must consider joint families, patriarchy, financial dependency, religious and caste expectations.

• Sometimes therapy involves in-laws, or helps set healthy boundaries with dignity and respect.

⚖️ Common Issues in Indian Marriages — Through the Lens of Therapy

💬 Why Many Indian Couples Struggle to Seek Therapy

• “Log kya kahenge?” (What will people say?)

• Belief that marriage problems must stay private

• Fear of being judged by therapist

• Misconception that therapy is only for divorce or “madness”

• Men often told to “be strong” instead of express pain

But therapy is not a sign of weakness — it’s a sign of responsibility toward your relationship.

🌟 What Healing Looks Like

✅ Partners start listening—not just waiting to reply
✅ Fights reduce, conversations increase
✅ Love feels safe again—not confusing or painful
✅ Emotional needs are spoken instead of suppressed
✅ Couples begin to heal as a team, not as enemies

👨‍⚕️ About the Author & Therapy Services

Dr. Srinivas Rajkumar T
MD (AIIMS, New Delhi), DNB Psychiatry
Consultant Psychiatrist & Couple Therapy Specialist
Mind & Memory Clinic, Apollo Clinic
(Opp. Phoenix MarketCity), Velachery, Chennai – 600042
📞 +91-8595155808 | 🌐 www.srinivasaiims.com

I help couples navigate communication breakdown, emotional disconnection, trust issues, affair recovery, family pressure, premarital counselling, and post-marital adjustment—using evidence-based methods like EFT, Gottman Method, CBT, and Imago Therapy, tailored to Indian cultural realities.