Marriage Encounter: What Makes It Work?

The purpose of this paper is to identify and explore the psychodynamics at work in the Marriage Encounter experience. The work draws from observation and participation in Marriage Encounters, as well as from research into the literature of self-disclosure and central person. The conclusions of the author are that there are powerful dynamics operating in the Marriage Encounter, and that they can cause definite movement and change in individuals and their marital relationships. As one listens to couples speak of their Marriage Encounter experience, he notices that some are joyfully ecstatic about it, but have great difficulty verbalizing what has happened to them and to their relationship. Marriage Encounter is not a religious retreat, nor is it designed to serve as a vehicle for marriage counseling. Marriage Encounter can be therapeutic, but it is not designed as a weekend of therapy for couples who have deep psychological problems. Marriage Encounter appears to have a two-fold objective. Its primary concern is to allow married couples to experience genuine interpersonal communication with their spouses. Simultaneously, for those who believe in the Transcendent, it is also a mystical experience. Those couples who see reality through the eyes of faith make claims of having experienced the presence of God in moments of shared intimacy with their spouses, a sensing of the sacred in the human.