Wait time before seeking couples therapy: Results from a new study on help seeking

Eugene Hall, a post-doctoral research fellow at the Danielsen Institute, was part of a research study that looked at how long couples wait before seeking professional help from a therapist. Previously it was understood that people waited about 6 years before seeking help, but this new study showed that people waited significantly less time, about 2.5 years, before enlisting help. In other words, people waited an average 2.5 years from the time that they began experiencing serious problems in their couple/marital relationship to the time they sought help. Further, the study found that, on average, people waited just under 2 years from the time they first thought about getting professional help before doing so. In addition, the study showed that people who seek individual therapy (without their partner) for help specifically with problems in their couple/marital relationship also waited about 2.5 years before seeking help and, similarly, about 2 years between thinking about therapy as an option and attending the first therapy session. The study aimed to debunk the previous 6-year statistic because of its implications that many couples are beyond the point of help after waiting this long. The study encourages couple therapists to attend to the length of time people wait before but remain hopeful that people can solve the problems impacting their relationship.

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