Plot Synopsis

COUPLES THERAPY is a half-hour documentary series that explores the authentic and visceral experience of weekly therapy with four couples: Annie & Mau, Elaine & DeSean, Sarah & Lauren, and Evelyn & Alan. Therapist Dr. Orna Guralnik guides the couples through the minefield of honest confrontation with each other and with themselves, revealing the real-life struggles -- and extraordinary breakthroughs -- typically hidden behind closed doors. In the series opener, Annie and Mau revisit a traumatic birthday. Elaine calls DeSean twenty times a day and he's fed up. Sarah wants a baby, but Lauren isn't ready to be a mom because she just became a woman. Three months into therapy, Evelyn and Alan make a painful decision about their marriage. Dr. Orna Guralnik wrestles with an overwhelming sense of responsibility she feels for her patients.

On Sunday, December 13, 2020 at 8pm ET/PT, Showtime premiered "The COVID Special," a one-hour COUPLES THERAPY special. This 60-minute documentary special follows expert couples therapist Dr. Orna Guralnik as she and her patients wrestle with the "new normal" of Covid-19 and the enforcement of stay-at-home orders. As cultural tensions, political unrest and the global pandemic push couples to their breaking points, the limits of remote therapy are put to the test.

The sophomore season of COUPLES THERAPY debuted on Sunday, April 18, 2021 from 10-11pm ET/PT, as Showtime debuted back-to-back new episodes. The nine-episode new season continues to take a visceral look at weekly therapy sessions with world-class therapist Dr. Orna Guralnik. The second season features three entirely new couples working through intense conflicts: a single mother's unplanned pregnancy forces her to examine if the father is actually the man she wants to be with, a woman confronts her husband for failing to deliver the life she wants, and the raw trauma of near-fatal alcoholism reveals unexpected consequences for a young gay couple. The season also sheds an intimate light on at-home confinement after last year's COVID-19 shutdown, forcing every couple -- and Dr. Guralnik herself -- to examine profound changes within their daily lives. New episodes will continue to air back-to-back on Sunday nights for four weeks, with a single episode the night of the finale on May 16.

Season 3 of COUPLES THERAPY premiered on Friday, May 13, 2022 from 8-9pm ET/PT, as Showtime debuted back-to-back new episodes. Two new episodes premiere each Friday through June 3, followed by the mid-season finale on June 10. The third season features therapy sessions with Dr. Guralnik as four new couples work through intense conflicts: a Broadway dancer and preacher's grandson struggle to escape an endless cycle of conflict after the birth of their daughter; the loss of intimacy in an open marriage forces a wife to reckon with her anger, while her husband resists acknowledging the part he plays; a mother of two must learn to hear her partner's cries for help or risk losing her altogether; and a decades-long relationship tears at the emotional scar tissue caused by years of betrayal. After a 10-month break, COUPLES THERAPY returned with new episodes on Friday, April 28, 2023 from 8-9pm ET/PT on Showtime. The second part of Season 3 follows four new couples wrestling with the confines of long-term relationships: two ex-Mormons struggle with betrayals past and present, a young Palestinian woman desperately tries to adjust to her partners' demand for polyamory, a husband's sexual frustration feeds his wife's insecurities and Dr. Guralnik meets a therapeutic challenge in a man who refuses to face the damage caused by his infidelities.
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The fourth season of COUPLES THERAPY debuted on Friday, May 31, 2024 on Paramount+, which released nine episodes of the new season. Episodes make their linear television debut on Paramount+ with Showtime, beginning Sunday, June 2. Psychoanalyst Dr. Orna Guralnik returns to guide couples through real-life therapy sessions. In the first installment of Season 4, Dr. Guralnik uncovers the past secrets and current blowups of four new couples: A polyamorous trio struggles with power dynamics and hidden resentments; newlyweds grapple with religion and sex after severing ties with a disapproving mother; a fiery young couple who can't stop fighting try living together for the sake of their kid; and Orna decides to prolong treatment for a particularly complicated case of a man who dissociates into multiple identities, and can't remember fights with his partner.