Practical exercises of couples therapy: Do you want to know what exercises are worked when a couple attends therapy? We show you 5 of the most used by therapists.
Just as individuals go through different stages, most couples also go through something similar. The situations experienced with the other person are not always easy; moreover, they frequently produce marital crises. In such a situation, going to couples therapy can be an excellent way to solve it.
The difficulties treated in couples therapy are multiple, but we could group them into two main axes. On the one hand, there are couples who have grown apart. Their problems are usually related to having few interests in common. They also do not spend much time together and their intimacy is limited or non-existent. It is true that they do not usually have big discussions, but far from being because of the harmony that they may have between the two, it is because there are very few fields in which they can potentially collide.
In this article, we want to show you some of the exercises that are most prescribed to couples when they go to therapy to improve their relationship. They are in no way a substitute for therapy, but knowing them can help you improve your relationship within a few days if you are going through a crisis situation. Let’s see some of them.
Practical exercises of couples therapy
1. Positive radars
This first exercise consists of understanding that there are two types of radars, positive and negative. The important thing is that we focus on the positive ones, which are the ones that capture more pleasant and pleasant situations.
The objective is for the couple to activate it and detect details that in many cases go unnoticed: a positive comment, a detail from the other person, or how good the new hairstyle suits them.
This exercise is very useful because it changes our point of view and we go from looking at everything that bothers us about the other to see what we do like.
2. The first fifteen minutes
This task can be related to the previous one or practiced independently. It consists of the couple spending the first fifteen minutes they are together after returning home to observe each positive aspect of the other.
It can be, for example, something that the other person says and we like or an action for which we feel grateful. The second part of the exercise involves reacting positively to it, thereby increasing positive interactions.
3. The Good Times Album
This activity is very suitable for couples who have been together for a long time. It consists of collecting photographs of the most memorable moments shared and creating a photo album with them.
To improve the experience, you can write a sentence next to each photograph that reflects the emotion that memory provokes. This will encourage keeping positive aspects of the other member of the couple in mind.
4. The surprise
In this case, each member of the couple has to prepare a surprise for the other once a week or as often as agreed. The trap has to be something we know the other person particularly enjoys, otherwise, it can backfire.
This exercise is very suitable for couples who are very immersed in the routine. It allows you to increase empathy towards the other and brings creativity into play since the idea is to change by surprise each time.
5. Post-it homework
This task consists of leaving a post-it with a positive message addressed to the other person in an inconspicuous place, but that the other person can find. For example, in a night drawer, under your pillow, next to your breakfast cereal, or inside your purse.
Several post-its a week are more than enough, it is not necessary to overdo it. It is interesting that the messages are changing and that they are positive but at the same time realistic.
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