Marriage Therapy or Marital Mediation?

Why Marital Mediation May be the Best Alternative

A recent study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that the percentage of adults who received mental health treatment in 2021, increased to 21.6%, up from 19.2%, in 2019. This is positive news, especially as more Americans are realizing the effectiveness of clinical treatment for anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, and even marital and family issues. Some dating and married couples are finding marital mediation to be a productive alternative to therapy, especially as it offers the tools needed for pushing beyond those stubborn and urgent conflicts.

Mediation has also proven to be a cost-effective alternative to litigated divorce. While a litigated divorce leaves decisions like custody and division of marital assets in the hands of the courts, mediation gives power back to the parties. It essentially allows them to negotiate and decide on the details of what their lives and their children’s lives will look like, following a divorce. For those marriages that can be salvaged, marital mediation is becoming a popular choice too.

"Some dating and married couples are finding marital mediation to be a more effective alternative to therapy, especially as it offers the tools needed for pushing beyond the more stubborn and urgent conflicts."

Pre-Marital and Marital Mediation

While therapy helps to answer questions around why individuals feel the way they do and why they are experiencing the internal or external conflicts that they are facing, marital mediation takes a solutions-focused approach that empowers individuals to take accountability for their actions, it targets and highlights maladaptive behaviors, and it mobilizes parties to come to an agreement on what changes will need to take place on both sides to make the marriage work. Often carried out in 2-hour sessions, a full 8-hour day, or in increments that accommodate each party’s schedule, marital mediation is designed to be brief yet transformative.

Some couples seek out mediation, ahead of saying their I Dos. With the mediator facilitating the discussion, pre-marital mediation gives couples the opportunity to disclose their premarital assets and debts. It also gives them the freedom to explore each other’s expectations of what marriage should look like. Among other things, it is also a place to pen out the details of prenuptial agreement that satisfies the interests of both parties. For couples who are already married, postnuptial agreements can be visited in mediation as well.

Similar to marriage therapists, marital mediators do not make decisions for the couple, they are non-judgmental, and they remain impartial on all matters. It is important to point out that mediators conduct sessions in full confidentiality, and are bound to this, under the laws of their state’s Supreme Court. Both therapy and marital mediation put couples in full control of what their lives will look like, together, or apart.

Comment below and let us know if either has worked for you.