Marriage is the oldest institution in which a man and a woman live their lives together. It is a union that brings two people from different backgrounds, personalities, walks of life and ethnic groups together.

The most important ingredients for a happy and healthy marriage are trust, respect, love, attention and communication. If any of these ingredients goes missing, couples are likely to experience marital distress. According to recent research studies, it has been estimated that 20% of all married couples experience marital distress at any given time.

Couples tend to become unhappy and dissatisfied with their marriages for a variety of reasons such as poor communication, financial problems, lack of intimacy, infidelity, major differences in personalities and opinions. Additional causes of marital distress may include substance abuse, gambling, loss of a child, loss of employment or untreated mental health illness.

Marital distress has powerful effects on both the partners often leading to high level of stress, worries, tension, anxiety and depression. Couples with high levels of marital distress fight frequently with each other as their conflicts become unresolved and becomes increasingly exhaustive. Many times they may not fight, but get completely withdrawn and alienated from each other no longer doing kind things for each other and no longer communicating with each other.