How coronavirus confinement could ultimately save your struggling marriage

I am usually swamped with calls on Mondays from new clients who are fighting with their partners after spending the weekend together.

It’s the same after the Christmas/New Year period.

Why is that?

It’s usually because spending more time than usual with your spouse – when your marriage is already struggling – exposes the cracks in your relationship and then blows them wide open.

I expect that confinement due to the coronavirus will have a similar effect on marriages where problems already exist.

You have the extra time you have to spend with each other, compounded by the added strain of financial pressures, job uncertainty and health issues.  Add to that the fact you are stuck at home with few or no social outlets to release your frustration and angst.

All up, it’s a potent cocktail sure to test even the strongest of relationships, let alone those already struggling.

In some ways this can be good news for a relationship already headed in the wrong direction.

That’s because the confinement can fast track the breakdown of the marriage, rather than the couple enduring many months or even years of poor communication, insults and fighting which can lead to the complete erosion of your tolerance and love… and eventually even hatred.

By compressing all of that into a few weeks or so during coronavirus confinement, you will probably have a better chance of saving your marriage.  Because the resentment and hate hopefully won’t be so embedded.

As a result, it may not be too late to save your relationship.

The key is to seek professional help as soon as you can.  Before it gets worse.

An experienced couples therapist can help you identify the root cause of problems and frustrations in your marriage, and give you solutions and tools to help you resolve the key issues and differences.

This should help enable you to get your marriage back on a solid footing, and regain harmony, trust and understanding in your relationship.