Counseling and Psychology

Question: Discuss about theCounseling and Psychology. Answer: Brief Introduction: Broken marriages are the global concern for the modern civilized world. Hence, it is important to opt for pre-marital counseling to identify the potential limitations within the couples that may lead to future conflicts and address them with effective procedures. Here, the author has made a survey upon the knowledge of the Singaporean population regarding the pre-marital counseling. However, the author has identified that the majority of the Singaporean population is ignorant about the importance of pre-marital counseling for successful marriages. The author has mainly involved the respondents who are married and most of them belong to the age group of 30 to 38. Most of the respondents are aware of the pre-marital counseling. However, most of the respondents who are not aware of it belong to the age group of 35 or above and spending a conjugal life for more than 10 years. 90 percent of the respondents have not gone through a pre-marital counseling and the 10 percent is dominated by the Christians. Most of the respondents belong to a society where premarital counseling is lowly rated. 50 percent respondents have stated that they do not find any importance of premarital counseling. However, the respondents who had premarital counseling have stated that it is helpful for happy relationship and significantly most of them belong to the age group of 35 or bellow. However, most of the respondents know where to find the premarital counselors in Singapore. The research of the author has identified that the majority of the respondents s tated that communication is the biggest issue to be addressed for obtaining a happy conjugal life and most of them are the married respondents. Most of the respondents have suggested that than 3 months before marriage is the best time to go for premarital counseling and 60 percent of the respondents think 4-6 sessions are sufficient for premarital counseling and most of the respondents were above 35 years old. In spite of the significant level of knowledge about the premarital counseling, the majority of the respondents have surprisingly stated that they would not recommend premarital counseling to the couple who are going to be married. It significantly identifies the lack of awareness among the respondents regarding the importance of premarital counseling for ensuring an emotional compatibility. However, the sample is size was too small to obtain a conclusive result of this research. Here, the author has examined this issue under the light of the theories like social exchange theory, attachment theory of psychology and emotionally focused couple therapy and has discussed why it is important for the Singaporean people to concentrate upon the significance of premarital counseling. Critical Evaluation of the Challenges/Problems Observed: As per the report of the survey conducted it can be noted that the Singaporean population do not have a positive knowledge about the importance of premarital counseling for obtaining a happy conjugal life. The Singaporean population has the knowledge of the premarital counseling; however they are not ready to accept it as a crucial part of marriage. As discussed by Chang et al. (2015), the social exchange theory, there are a number of social or external factors those are influential in reshaping the interaction in a reciprocal relationship like marriage. The advocates of the social exchange theory state that in spite of being guided by the role expectations by the society, individuals act in each role to maximize the benefit they receive in minimum cost to themselves. Hence, the idea of social exchange largely supports the premarital counseling to identify the benefits for each of the parties. Premarital counseling is directed to identify the positive potentials and limitations of the partners (Burgess Huston, 2013). Thus, by identifying the emotional and tangible benefits the partners can become more respectable to each other put effort to address the issues (Abanyam, Sambe Moses, 2014). However, in the Singaporean population, the individuals are being negligible to the importance of identification of these benefits which is likely to create a sense of respect or advantage among the couples. On the other hand, the attachment theory of psychology states that emotional and physical attachment to any person helps in personal development. The attachment theory is largely concentrated on the emotional and cognitive development of the children and the theorists have identified that the children who lacks attachment in their early childhood is more likely to be unable to establish secure relationships (Goldberg, Muir Kerr, 2013). Here, the potential partners need the help of the premarital counselors. In many cases, people are unable to identify whether they are ready for an established or committed relationship like marriage. The initial fling of attraction is often identified as the longing for relationship and the partners overlook the issues in the early childhood that is hugely influential in their future relationships (LeVine, 2014). Here, the premarital counselors help the couples to identify their issues regarding long lasting relationships and they become able to addr ess them before it gets too complicated to handle (Herrmann, 2014). However, the theories of counseling also support the idea of premarital counseling for create a better compatibility and emotional attachment between the conjugal partners. According to the theory of emotionally focused couple therapy, the couples need to build trust between them, communicate clearly and resolve conflicts. As mentioned by Dalgleish et al. (2015), with behavioral, emotional and interpersonal approaches, the EFT helps the couple to develop tools necessary to express needs and desires. The theory of EFT states that, with the help of couple counseling, the partners become able to be a good listener and empathetic to the emotions of their partners (Zuccarini et al., 2013). Hence, it is important for potential couples to opt for the strategy of premarital counseling for avoiding the likelihood of broken marriage. Conclusion: In conclusion, it can be stated that the premarital counseling is typically important for eliminating the potentiality of broken marriages. The Singaporean demography is neglecting the contribution of this counseling for successful marriages. However, the psychological theories largely support the importance and exercise of the premarital counseling for creating understanding and the ability of resolving the conjugal conflicts. References: Abanyam, N. L., Sambe, N., Moses, Y. (2014). A Sociological Analysis of the Impact of Premarital and Marital Counseling in Preventing the Global Trend of Divorce. American International Journal of Research in Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, 5, 1. Burgess, R. L., Huston, T. L. (Eds.). (2013).Social exchange in developing relationships. Elsevier. Chang, H. H., Tsai, Y. C., Chen, S. 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Forgiveness and reconciliation in emotionally focused therapy for couples: The client change process and therapist interventions. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 39(2), 148-162.