New figures from Ireland's largest marriage and relationship counselling service, Accord, show that around 12,000 people sought counselling sessions last year.
The Catholic Church-sponsored agency says it provided 30,000 counselling sessions in 2005, the highest level since the agency was founded over 35 years ago.
The most common causes of unhappiness were partners being critical of one another and dissatisfaction with task-sharing in the home, particularly childcare and housework.
Most of the couples who sought help were in their 30s and had children under 11 years old.
