Do You Need Couples Therapy or Individual Therapy?

Life’s journey is full of personal challenges and the need to navigate relationships. Therapy can be a beacon of hope, guiding you toward emotional resilience and fostering interpersonal harmony. If every conversation with your partner seems to end in frustration or an argument, or you feel lonely even when surrounded by others, it might be time to seek professional help.

Determining if you need couples therapy vs. individual therapy can be tricky, though. Both can serve as powerful tools for healing, but they cater to very different needs. Couples therapy aims to resolve conflicts and strengthen the connection between partners, while individual therapy focuses on personal growth, emotional regulation, and self-improvement.

Whether you are trying to salvage your relationship or want to improve your mental health, knowing the difference between individual and couples therapy can be the first step toward a healthy, happy life with a rewarding relationship dynamic.

Couples Therapy vs Individual Therapy

Understanding the difference between individual and couples therapy can help you determine which path best suits your needs. Both fundamentally promote healing and growth, but the approaches and outcomes can differ.

Couples therapy

This form of therapy is designed to address issues between partners. Couples counseling can be a safe, neutral space for each of you to express feelings without judgment. A couples therapist acts as a mediator who can help you identify underlying conflicts that affect communication or trust in your relationship. Couples therapy is successful in most cases, too. According to some research, 90% of people see an improvement in their emotional health after seeking relationship counseling. 

Couples therapy can be beneficial if the primary concern is about the relationship. Chronic arguing, feeling disconnected from one another, infidelity, or differences in parenting styles are all common relationship issues that therapy might help with.

Benefits of couples therapy can include:

• Improved communication
• Conflict resolution
• Strengthened relationship
• Enhanced intimacy
• Joint problem-solving

Individual therapy

Individual therapy focuses on personal growth and emotional well-being. It might be a good option if you have individual issues like depression, anxiety, trauma, or any other challenge in life that might be impacting your relationship. 

When you seek individual counseling, you gain a private, safe space to explore your thoughts and behaviors. Therapy can help you understand yourself better and teach you coping strategies so you can make positive changes in your life and relationships.

Benefits of individual therapy sessions can include:

• Personal growth
• Customized strategy
• Increased self-awareness
• Empowered decision-making
• Independent healing 

Deciding Which Therapy is Right for You

Choosing between couples therapy and individual therapy will impact your path and progress toward healing and growth. Looking closely at your needs can help you decide which type of therapy might be more appropriate.

Identifying the core issues you’re facing is essential. This is often the first step in determining the type of therapy that’s best for you. Consider how the problems you’re experiencing are affecting your personal well-being and your relationship. Asking yourself some reflective questions might help gauge whether your experience is more personal or relationship-focused.

• What is the main challenge I’m facing?
• Do my challenges relate more to how I feel and act individually or how we interact as a couple?
• How do my issues impact my relationship?
• How does my relationship affect my issues?
• What do I hope to achieve through therapy?
• Am I looking more for personal healing, to improve my relationship, or both?

When to choose couples therapy

Whether it’s individual counseling for marriage or couples therapy together, seeking help is smart. The process is most beneficial when both partners are committed to improving things. To see optimal results, you must be willing to work together to resolve issues. 

Couples therapy can be helpful in situations like:

• Dealing with infidelity
• Improving intimacy
• Navigating major life changes, like moving, family planning, or job changes
• Resolving ongoing conflict, especially if the same issues continuously arise with no resolution

Still unsure? Consider exploring the signs you need couples therapy.

When to choose individual therapy

Individual therapy might be a better option when your issues are personal and mainly impact your mental health but aren’t directly related to your relationship (even if they may impact it). An individual session is also recommended if personal growth is the objective. 

Individual therapy can be an excellent choice if you want help:

• Managing personal mental health issues like depression, anxiety, or stress
• Addressing past trauma
• Achieving personal development and self-improvement

“Couples therapy is better for people that have already had some experience with their own personal work (either through therapy, self-development, a course, etc.) Because relationships have a higher propensity to be successful, when individuals feel better. While we can heal ourselves, individually, through couples work, it is significantly more complicated than seeking individual therapy before couples.”

– Talkspace therapist, Dr. Meaghan Rice, PsyD, LPC

Benefits of Combining Couples and Individual Therapy

Therapy is rarely a linear experience. Addressing complex personal issues alongside relationship challenges often requires a multifaceted approach. When couples therapy and individual therapy are combined, you can get a comprehensive strategy that maximizes the outcome and results in balanced improvement between personal well-being and a healthier relationship.

• Comprehensive healing: When individual and couples therapy are pursued simultaneously, there’s a greater opportunity for healing to take place. Individual therapy lets you explore your personal issues, traumas, or mental health challenges that can impact your relationship in negative ways. At the same time, couples therapy can focus on the dynamics of your relationship as you focus on better communication, understanding each other, or gaining mutual respect. It’s a dual approach that addresses issues on both personal and relationship levels.
• A balanced perspective: Combining therapies can achieve a more balanced perspective that’s essential for growing as a person and in your relationship. Improving self-awareness and personal insight is often the goal of therapy during individual sessions. These personal insights can then be carried over into couples sessions, where both partners work to understand and integrate what they’ve learned to better the relationship.
• Enhanced support system: Having a couples therapist and an individual therapist offers a more well-rounded support system. Each mental health professional brings different insights and coping mechanisms to sessions, enhancing and enriching the therapeutic experience.
• Strengthen dynamics in the relationship: A combined approach will offer significantly strengthened relationship dynamics. You’ll likely become more personally fulfilled as you both become more self-aware. This means you each can contribute more positively to the relationship.
• Balanced growth: Maintaining balance ensures both partners feel fulfilled, prevents future resentments, and gives each of you space to grow — both together and as individuals.

Talkspace – Your Partner in Finding the Right Therapy

Choosing the best type of therapy can be transformative for your mental health and your relationship. Deciding to start therapy is commendable, but it’s essential to find the right therapeutic path that aligns with your needs and goals.

Understand that every person’s journey is unique. The importance of personalized therapy that caters to individual and relationship needs cannot be understated. Talkspace is an online therapy platform that makes it easy for you to access professional help in a way that fits your lifestyle and offers both individual and couples therapy online.

Talkspace ensures you have convenient, flexible, integrated services that offer the most comprehensive approach possible so you and your partner can work on personal growth and improve your relationship. 

Learn more about individual or couples therapy online at Talkspace today.