Couples Therapy Los Angeles: Evidence-Based Couples Therapy

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What Brings Couples to Therapy

Couples generally arrive from one of a few places. The same fight keeps happening, different content, but the same shape, and neither of you can step out of it. A specific event, an affair, a disclosure, a financial crisis, a parenting decision, has destabilized the relationship in a way the two of you can't address alone. A transition, becoming parents, a job loss, a move, or retirement has shifted the dynamics, and the relationship hasn't recalibrated. Or you've reached a decision point about whether to stay together and want help thinking it through with someone trained to hold both sides.

Whatever brought you here, the work of couples therapy isn't about getting either person to be different. It's about understanding the pattern the two of you produce together, and changing the parts of it that each of you can change.

How We Treat Couples at CBT Los Angeles

Your first one or two sessions cover the relationship history, what brought you in now, what each of you wants to address, and where the conflict pattern tends to land.

Couples treatment at Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Los Angeles draws on three evidence-based modalities, matched to your situation rather than applied by default. Integrative Behavioral Couples Therapy (IBCT) targets the cycle of behaviors and emotional responses that produces the recurring fight, and builds acceptance for differences that change alone won't resolve. Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) works with the attachment patterns under the conflict, especially when the same fight keeps escalating because both partners feel unheard. The Gottman Method uses structured assessment of the relationship's specific strengths and risk factors, then applies targeted skills to the highest-risk areas.

Your psychologist will recommend a primary approach after the assessment and may integrate techniques across approaches when your situation calls for it.

Both partners track progress with brief weekly questionnaires. The numbers show whether the work is moving for each of you. If it isn't moving by week four or five, the plan changes.

Couples therapy at CBT Los Angeles is structured around twelve to twenty-four weekly sessions, depending on what brought you in and how layered the patterns are. The course builds a clearer read of the pattern, a set of skills for handling it differently, and a written maintenance plan for when the pattern tries to return.

If you're not sure whether your situation calls for couples therapy, individual therapy, or a different approach entirely, the 15-minute consultation is built to help you sort that out.

What to Expect

Sessions are 50 minutes, typically weekly to start. You can meet your psychologist in person at our Brentwood office on Wilshire Boulevard or by telehealth from anywhere in California. Both partners in person, or both by telehealth, tends to work better than mixed formats. We'll talk through what fits your situation on the consultation call.

Couples therapy at Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Los Angeles is out-of-network. If one or both partners have PPO insurance, the plan may reimburse 50 to 80 percent of the fee through the superbill we provide. Some plans exclude couples therapy from reimbursement. HSA and FSA are accepted.

Your first contact is a free 15-minute phone call. We’ll ask what brought you in and what each of you hopes the work will address, then match you with the psychologist whose couples therapy training and approach best fit your situation.

Why CBT Los Angeles for Couples Therapy

Doctoral-level psychologists trained in couples work

Couples therapy is a distinct clinical specialty, not individual therapy with two people in the room. Every clinician at CBT Los Angeles holds a doctorate in clinical psychology, and several have advanced training in evidence-based couples therapy. With us, the doctoral-level, couples-trained clinician is the one you work with from session one.

Three approaches, matched to your needs

We don't apply a single approach to every couple. The assessment in the first sessions identifies which approach, or which combination, is the right starting point, and your psychologist may adjust as the work progresses.

Structured, time-limited, measurable

Couples therapy at Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Los Angeles has a defined structure and timeline of 12 to 24 sessions for most people. The work is collaborative, the framework is set, and both partners track progress weekly. That's structurally different from open-ended relationship counseling that has no endpoint… until one partner gives up.

If you want to know which couples-therapy approach would be the right starting point for your situation, the consultation call is built for exactly that.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are we 'bad-off enough' to need couples therapy?

Most couples we work with are in functioning relationships with specific patterns that aren't resolving on their own. You don't need to be in crisis. Couples who come in earlier than they feel they have to generally find the work easier, because the pattern gets named before it does deeper damage.

What if my partner does not want to come?

It happens often. Sometimes a single consultation call with both of you on the phone helps the more hesitant partner decide. Sometimes the work starts with one partner, and the other joins later. Sometimes individual therapy for one partner turns out to be the right starting point. The consultation call can help you think it through.

Will the therapist take sides?

No. The therapist's job is to understand the pattern the two of you produce together, which by definition draws from both sides. If it feels like the therapist is asking more of you in a session, that usually means the work has reached a piece that's yours to address. The therapist holds both partners' interests throughout.

How is this different from a marriage counselor or relationship coach?

Doctoral psychologists trained in evidence-based couples modalities work from specific clinical frameworks with measurable progress tracking. Marriage counselors and relationship coaches vary widely in training and approach. The distinction matters most when the situation is complex, or when standard relationship advice hasn't moved the pattern.

What if intimate partner violence or active safety concerns are part of what is happening?

Couples therapy is generally not the right treatment when active intimate partner violence is present. The standard of care is individual treatment for each partner with appropriate safety planning. If this is part of what you're dealing with, mention it on the consultation call. We'll route you to the right resource, which may include individual therapy for one or both of you, including anger management or emotion regulation therapy.

Start with a free 15-minute call

The hardest call you've been putting off is probably the one to schedule a couples consultation. The 15-minute call is built to be the easiest version of that conversation. We'll listen, answer what you want answered, and match you with the right doctoral psychologist for your situation at our Brentwood or telehealth practice. No charge, no obligation to schedule anything else.

If couples therapy isn't the right starting point for your situation, we'll tell you that too and help you find what fits.

Medically Reviewed by Dr. Albert Bonfil, PsyD.
Updated June 2026.

Learn about Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy.