Good Marriage Boosts One’s Health – Therapist
Marriage and family therapist Odeneho Dinpa has raised concerns on the need to choose wisely and carefully when picking a spouse.
According to him, anything aside from a good marital relationship can be a real heartbreaker.
Speaking in an interview, Odeneho Dinpa said spouses affect the physical health of each other in very direct and measurable ways.
“So you want to find someone with whom you are compatible, share values — someone who makes you happy. But perhaps one of the most compelling reasons to make an informed choice is that your spouse can affect your physical health in very direct, measurable ways.
The choice of spouse is one of the most significant you’ll make in your life; it is more serious than choosing a house or anything,” says Odeneho Dinpa, UK-based Ghanaian therapist with private practice.
He also stressed on the effect of marital strain on cardiovascular health, saying blood pressure is directly linked to what he calls “marital cohesion”.
“Research found that if you had a bad marriage, it was best to avoid your spouse because if you are with your spouse, your blood pressure went up, and if you weren’t with your spouse, your blood pressure went down,” says the therapist.
He, therefore, advised people to be critical when considering their marital partners.
“There are many good reasons to choose wisely and carefully when picking a spouse — not the least of which is that you’ll be spending an awful lot of time with them in both the near and distant future, possibly even raising children together,” he told GhanaWeb.
“Couples who stay together do what is necessary to make the marriage a happy one. They find out what brings their partner happiness and then do it often,” Dinpa observed.
These couples, he continues, “realize that not all times will be good and gain an insight into the everyday obvious pressures and also the psychological structures to ensure that the love that brought them together is strengthened over the lifetime of their marriage.”