Do we need a therapist to dump someone now?

The rise of young couples in therapy.

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If you've only been together a year and are hitting the therapist's couch, is it a sign you should end things? Or that you're cleverly ironing out problems before they reach crisis stage? Brit Dawson meets the 20and 30-something couples in therapy.

Every Thursday evening, they'd cosy up in their living room, a cup of coffee or glass of wine in hand, and huddle in front of a laptop. They were each armed with a list; some weeks, it would be long, others, it was shorter. But no matter what, however intense it could become, Pooja and Priesh would sit down and go over the list together. On it was everything that had annoyed them about each other that week, jotted down in the heat of the moment, and ready to be thrashed out during this weekly allotted hour.

They'd only been married for six months and, by their own declaration, had “no glaring issues” in their relationship. So, why had they decided to embark on gruelling couples therapy together? I sat down with them, and others, to find out...

Couples counselling has historically been seen as a last-ditch attempt to save a long-term marriage, but recently, more and more young couples are starting to knock at the therapist's door. And, while some of them are at crisis point, others, like Pooja and Priesh, both 33, are using couples therapy as a way of fine-tuning their relationship. Or, as psychotherapist Natalie Cawley puts it, like “seeing a personal trainer or the dental hygienist”.

Over the last few decades, as our understanding of and sensitivity towards mental health issues has deepened, therapy has become significantly less taboo. So much so that in certain circles, it’s even considered unusual not to be in therapy.