This article from the NYTimes about marriage counseling is fascinating for me, since couple's counseling is my bread and butter. Some hotshot researcher looked into the effectiveness of couple's counseling, and found low success rates. (My personal success rates are much higher than those mentioned in the article, by the way.) At one point the article says this:

And therapists say that they could save more marriages if couples started therapy before their relationships were in critical condition.

"Couples wait an average of six years of being unhappy with their relationship before getting help," said Dr. John Gottman, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Washington and executive director of the Relationship Research Institute in Seattle. "We help the very distressed couples less than the moderately distressed couples."

I've been saying that for years now! Would you wait six years to treat a broken leg? Why wait to treat a broken relationship? Oy. So pardon me, Mr Researcher: Perhaps it's not that couple's therapy isn't very effective. Maybe it's that couples wait too long before seeking help.