Couples in marriage counselling up by 10%

THE Catholic marriage service Accord has unveiled new figures which show a 10% increase in the number of couples seeking marriage counselling in 2009.

Having delivered a total of 40,000 counselling sessions last year, the marriage counselling service said modern relationships were being strained by a number of new issues, including financial stress, rising depression and issues surrounding addiction to pornography, cyber sex and online gambling.

Speaking on the eve of St Valentine’s Day and National Marriage Week, Accord national director Ruth Barror said that while a breakdown in communication was still the most common problem in most marital difficulties, a variety of other problems were now emerging in the economic downturn.