Female Couples Psychotherapists in Delhi

Couples counselling works with two people, and with what happens between them. It does not treat one of them.

Both partners usually attend ³. Couples counselling works on repeated arguments, an affair, sex, money, parenting, or a decision about separating.

It does not rule on who is right. It is not for married couples alone.

If you are afraid of your partner, say so to the practitioner before any joint session is booked. Ask to be seen on your own first. The support numbers at the top of this page are for that situation.

Everyone on this page describes their work as psychotherapy. A psychotherapist works through talking with you about your thoughts, feelings and behaviours.

Psychotherapy usually runs longer than counselling and aims for clinical change. It works on patterns that repeat rather than on one current problem.

A psychotherapist trains in psychological treatment rather than in medicine. What that training covers, and which approach a practitioner uses, differ between practitioners. Ask which approach a psychotherapist trained in, and how long they usually work.

Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital Psychiatry Department. Phone +91 11 25494402. Care at this state government hospital is free. The psychiatry outpatient clinic is open to the public from Monday to Saturday. You must register at the hospital first.

Usually. Partners are almost always seen together³. Couples sessions require safety.

Some practitioners will see one partner alone where the other will not attend. Ask what a practitioner does when one person is unwilling.

No. Couples counselling is for people in a relationship, married or not, of any gender, living together or not. The same practitioners work with couples deciding whether to separate, and with couples who have already separated and are parenting together. Say which of those describes you at first contact.

No. The work is with what happens between two people rather than with a verdict on either of them. Effective work with couples needs its own theories and methods, drawn from research on relationships. Ask a practitioner how they handle it when you disagree in the room.

Yes, and many practitioners offer it. Couples therapy by video shows few significant differences from face-to-face sessions⁴. Symptom reduction, engagement and the therapeutic alliance are comparable.

Sitting in the same room at home suits some couples and not others. Ask what a practitioner offers.

It depends on their category, because there is more than one register.

A clinical psychologist registers with the Rehabilitation Council of India⁵. Psychologists and counsellors in other categories fall under the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions⁶. A psychiatrist is a doctor, and the National Medical Commission publishes the Indian Medical Register⁷.

Counselling has no single national title. Ask which body they are registered with, then look for the name on that body's register.

Each practitioner sets their own fee. Our guide to what therapy costs in India sets out the usual ranges; ask each practitioner what a couples session costs.

Where a practitioner states a fee on their listing, that figure is their own. Ask before the first session. Ask too whether the fee runs per session or per person in the room.

Couple therapy is an effective treatment for relationship distress, and the main models reach broadly similar results⁸.

Behavioural, cognitive-behavioural, emotionally focused and integrative behavioural couple therapy meet the criteria researchers use for a well-established treatment⁹.

Those findings describe groups of couples in studies. They are not a forecast about any one relationship, and nobody listed here can promise you an outcome.

What the research does not settle is which approach suits you. Ask a practitioner how they work with two people, and what they do when the two of you want different things.

Practice differs on what comes first. Some approaches open with a formal assessment that combines joint and individual meetings. Others use no set assessment stage³.

In the first meeting you usually talk about why you are coming now, how each of you sees the problem, and what each of you wants changed.

Before you start, ask the practitioner these questions.

• Does the practitioner see each partner alone?
• What does the practitioner do with what one partner tells them in private?
• How will you know the work has finished?

The Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 requires every insurer to make provision for medical insurance for the treatment of mental illness. It is to be on the same basis as cover for physical illness. India's insurance regulator put that to all insurers by circular¹⁰.

Marriage counselling is not itself treatment of a mental illness. That direction does not settle whether a session with a couple is claimable on your policy.

Ask your insurer whether it covers outpatient consultations with your practitioner's category, and ask the practitioner what they can invoice.

There is no threshold you have to cross first. Relationship distress is one of the commonest reasons adults seek psychotherapy at all⁸.

Distress between partners travels. It is associated with mood, anxiety and substance-use difficulties in the partners themselves, and with difficulties for children in the household³.

Couples come with a repeating argument, with an affair, with a decision about whether to stay together, and with none of those. You do not have to agree on the problem before you make contact.

See the India page for the professions that do carry a register there.