Do you need a marriage checkup?

Back in November 2008, I wrote about the "Marriage Checkup" program being created by James V. Cordova, Ph.D. His much anticipated book is about to hit bookstores (I believe late this month), so the marketing efforts for the book are in high gear now.

Just today, MSN reprinted a Redbook article that gives a preview into the questions covered in the checkup. Among them are:

1. Are we curious about each other — and do we express it?
2. Do we each understand when the other needs advice versus simply needing support?
3. How's the sex?

If you've answered "not sure" or "no" to questions 1 and 2 and "could be better" to question 3, I'd suggest you read the Redbook article mentioned above. It might give you some ideas on how shake up your relationship and get you and your partner connecting again.

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A big thanks to Lynn for passing along the MSN article!

Marriage Checkup: ABC talks about the NIH grant

Back in mid-November I wrote about the "Marriage Check-up." ABC picked up the story about the NIH funded grant yesterday and did a spot on it. You can watch the video here.

Getting a Marriage Check-up seems like a good idea to me. My only question is, what does an annual visit to a therapist mean? Are we talking one visit one time a year or a month worth of visits for a whole year? One visit one time per year sounds great. Who couldn't benefit from that?! If it's more than one (unless, of course, a major issue surfaces), I hesitate. It seems like too much work, especially if you're communicating with your spouse regularly and there doesn't seem to be a problem. Spending the cash and time to go to a marriage counselor for a month seems excessive. Would love to hear other people's take on this, but this is my initial reaction. © 2008 - Brianna Sylver - All rights reserved

Regardless, it seems like a marriage counselor could create a niche for themselves in this area if he/she wanted. What a great way to drive business! The first session, the actual "check-up", (please note that this is one session in my mind) is 1/2 off. Get the check-up. Find out what's not working, then pay the big bucks to have someone help you fix it. It seems like a great way to create new clientèle in a manner that offers true value to its user (the husband and wife seeking counseling).

Of course, this is all contingent on whether or not there is a reliable assessment of what the true health of a relationship is from the start. I believe this is what Dr. James Cordova is working on. I'm interested in checking out his book, The Marriage Checkup: A Program for Sustaining and Strengthening Marital Health, when it's released in Spring 2009.

To be continued...

© 2008 - Brianna Sylver - All rights reserved

Marriage Checkup

I came across a very interesting article today in Psych Central (thanks to Google Alerts). James Cordova, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at Clark University in Worcester, Ma., has been conducting a research project on a new program that he's developed called the "Marriage Checkup."

What is a Marriage Checkup you ask? According to Cordova:

Essentially the marriage checkup is the marital health equivalent of the annual physical or the every six-month dental visit.

He's conducting a controlled test to know how effective the Marriage Checkup is in helping couples maintain more healthy and satisfying relationships. I think it's an interesting method and one I'm curious to know more about. © 2008 - Brianna Sylver - All rights reserved

There is a lot on the market to help the new couples starting their marriages and many services to help couples once they find themselves in crisis mode. Cordova's method falls right in the in-between space. It's about detecting problems early before they get to crisis stage. Interesting stuff.

© 2008 - Brianna Sylver - All rights reserved