How To Deal With Perpetual Problems BEFORE You Get Married!

Samantha Burns

Samantha Burns, Counselor

Expertise: Counselor

Samantha is a Licensed Counselor and Dating Coach, and the love guru behind LoveSuccessfully.com. She tackles breaking up, dating, increasing relationship satisfaction,... Read more

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Updated: 8 Dec, 2022

Perpetual problems exist and you can learn to manage them with calmer conversations that honor both partners and your shared life.
Avoid the four horsemen by pausing before reacting and using I feel, about, I need to keep dialogue constructive and intimate.
You are on the same team and by choosing moments of calm, validating feelings, and lasting empathy you deepen trust and feel seen.

Do you want everything to be perfect and peaceful in your relationship before saying, “I do?” What if I told you that the majority of conflicts in relationships are recurring?

The thought of having the same argument over and over for the rest of your life is daunting. So it’s important to know what you’re signing up for. Though you may never resolve an issue—don’t pull your hair out just yet—you are totally capable of learning how to better manage it with less stress!

The reality is that there are problems in every marriage due to differences in personality and lifestyle. According to Dr. John Gottman’s research, 69% of relationship problems are perpetual. That means it’s unrealistic to think that you need to have everything solved before getting married.

Let’s ditch the word “resolve” all together, and use “manage” instead when talking about these problems that tend to get rehashed. In order to have a successful marriage, you need to shift from explosive arguments that lead to hurtful comments, resentment and disconnection to more effective communication.

Dr. John Gottman found that emotional withdrawal and anger can lead to a distant divorce, about 16.2 years after the wedding, but four specific behavior patterns, which he calls the “four horsemen of the apocalypse,” can lead to an early divorce—just 5.6 years after the wedding. This is certainly not the happily ever after that you’re envisioning!

The potential divorce-causing behaviors listed by Dr. John Gottman are:

Criticism: Blaming or attacking your partner’s personality or character (ex. “You never do the dishes, you are so lazy!”)

Contempt: Speaking to your partner from a position of superiority by undermining or devaluing, which also includes negative body language, such as eye rolling, and hurtful sarcasm (ex. “I’d never do that, you’re such an idiot!”)

Defensiveness: Self-protection through playing the victim or self-justifying to defend against a perceived attack (ex. “I wouldn’t have yelled if you didn’t push my buttons first”)

Stonewalling: Shutting down or withdrawing emotionally from the interaction (ex. After a wife criticizes her husband, he retreats to his man cave instead of responding to her or giving her the answer she is looking for)

Meeting your partner’s anger with hostility destroys trust and his or her ability to be vulnerable in the relationship, leading to a decrease in intimacy and connection. As soon to be newlyweds, it’s essential to learn how to manage conflict is a healthy way.

You can avoid the four horsemen by being more conscious of how you start up a conversation. Typically, you engage in these unpleasant behaviors because your emotions are triggered. Something your partner did (or didn’t do) got you upset. You tend to get angry when something is important to you, and it’s either misheard, invalidated, or deemed unimportant by your partner.

When you communicate by engaging in one of the four horsemen, your partner responds to this negative behavior, rather than to the core issue that’s important to you. As soon as your partner feels attacked, blamed, or criticized, he or she will fire back, shut down, or defend, rather than listening to what’s upsetting you in the first place.

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The next time you’re heated, be mindful of your automatic harsh response, and try starting a more gentle conversation, phrasing it by using the following three-step approach:

I FEEL… (name emotion)

ABOUT…(describe the situation that is creating the feeling, rather than describing your partner’s flaws)

I NEED…(describe how your partner can help you to feel better about the issue)

For example, my husband is way messier than I am, but rather than assuming he’s doing it to maliciously push my buttons, I acknowledge it’s a difference in lifestyle. A messy house makes me feel overwhelmed and prevents me from relaxing, whereas he can live in chaos—it’s just personal preference!

I could yell, demand, and criticize him for it, but I’ve learned that doesn’t get us anywhere. Instead, I say something such as, “I feel annoyed about the dishes left on the coffee table. I need you to please put them in the dishwasher so that I can feel more relaxed.” I also find it’s helpful to communicate a timeline of when I expect this to happen. No one is a mind reader, so you have to put your expectations out there, negotiate, and agree upon them.

Now it’s your turn! Bring to mind some of your perpetual problems. Using this three-step approach, imagine addressing these issues in a new, softer way. Your job is to deliver this information so that your partner can hear, understand and empathize with your emotional experience.

When you focus on your emotions about the topic at hand and clearly identify how your partner can help, he or she can engage with you without being defensive, critical, or withdrawing. This is when productive conversation and compromise happens. To secure a successful marriage, you should also learn when are the best times to bring up an issue. Timing is everything!

If I approach my husband about the dirty dishes when he just gets home from work and is stressed, hungry, and tired, I get a much different response than if his physiological needs have been met and we are enjoying each other’s company.

Often times, couples bring up issues when they are already heated and frustrated. My rule is that if you can’t talk to your partner in a calm voice because you’re yelling or crying, then you’re not ready to have the conversation. It’s ok to take a time out to cool off and collect yourself, but you need to communicate clearly to your partner that this is important to you and you plan to come back to talk about it. The last thing you want is for your partner to think you’re blowing it off—this leads right back to the four horsemen habits!

Your goal during these perpetual problems is to stop engaging in hurtful ways of communicating, and to increase the positive interactions, such as remaining open to influence, validating your partner, empathizing with his or her emotions, and supporting each other.

Ultimately, you both care about each other’s happiness—that’s why you’re getting married, right? Remember, you’re on the same team!

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Samantha Burns Counselor

Samantha is a Licensed Counselor and Dating Coach, and the love guru behind LoveSuccessfully.com. She tackles breaking up, dating, increasing relationship satisfaction,... Read more and coping with infidelity with individuals and couples in Boston and around the country on Skype. Read less

(Samantha Burns is also listed in Best Marriage Therapists in Cambridge)