The high divorce rate that is rampant everywhere today, has made premarital and marital counseling an increasingly relevant field of family and consumer science. All over the world divorce rates are soaring. At University, it is not uncommon for students to be asked to write a “Family and Consumer Science” essay on the high divorce rate, and the effects of premarital and marital counseling. When asked to write such an essay on “Premarital and Marital Counseling”, it is always best to begin the essay by first reviewing what one has been taught in class about the issue. One could also consult other texts and collections of readings that have the material that could be very helpful when writing a well informed essay on “Premarital and Marital Counseling”. The reason why students are advised to use information from other sources is that lecture notes are only helpful when you are writing the introduction of the “Family and Consumer Science” essay. It can also be very difficult to cite class notes in the essay. One should not refer to lecture notes in the body of the essay, or list the notes in the bibliography section. Some instructors also require that students refer to the texts utilized in class as primary sources of the essay. Instructors usually encourage students to include a number of secondary sources in the essay, because this will make them read beyond what is studied in class, and open up their thinking about the subject. Home encyclopedias are among the first sources that students seek information from, especially when students are asked to write an essay on “Premarital and Marital Counseling”.
Premarital and Marital Counseling essay example
Counseling is a process that offers assistance and guidance in solving problems. This process is facilitated by a trained person in a certain professional area. Courting couples and married partners sought counseling from premarital and marital counselors or therapists in case their relationship starts showing difficulties or problems. These counselors are professionally trained to help solve problems in relationships using advice and certain tools (Burnett, 2004).
Premarital counseling is counseling done to couples who are not yet married. This type of counseling fulfils certain functions as helping couples in developing skills as they prepare to get married, and solving different conflicts. According to research works, most of pre-marital counselors use an assessment tool to help identify these areas that cause conflicts or problems. One of the tools used by clinicians and clergy is Premarital Inventory (PMI) (Burnett, 2004).
Marital counseling is counseling done to married couples. It helps married couples improve their relationships, and also resolve conflicts. This service is mostly performed by professional therapists or clinical workers. It is advisable for both partners to attend the counseling session, although some partners may prefer to work with the counselor alone (Burnett, 2004).
Couple should seek premarital counseling, when they are young but not yet married, when they have disagreements that cannot be resolved, and when one or both couples had previously failed marriage therefore they want to avoid instances of mistakes they already made. Marital counseling helps married partners who undergo problems such as; communication difficulties, financial problems, infidelity, divorce, sexual difficulties, anger, conflicts about taking care of a child, and domestic abuse (Burnett, 2004).