How can anxiety impact the health of the relationship?

Anxiety is a subject that to some appear to be an individual concern and not seen as a dynamic diagnosis that can impact the relationship health.

Let’s start with a few basic areas to review.

How can anxiety impact the health of the relationship?

Below are two examples of how anxiety can impact your relationship:

Take into account a person that struggles with confrontation due to confrontation increasing symptoms of their anxiety. The symptoms are noted when the person feels the rapid heartbeat, hand tremors, and nausea. The individual in the relationship avoids conflict and speaking their mind because of anxiety. The issue of anxiety is one that impacts the person on an individual level and the relationship as a whole.

Imagine that in your relationship, you carry a level of anxiety tends to always be there with you. It feels like a pressure that is never entirely gone. When you wake up you feel a bit anxious. When you are at work you feel slightly on edge. The anxiety is not strong enough to subdue you, but you can notice it. Your partner doesn’t notice it. They do not see it. Your partner struggles with understanding why you need a specific routine to wake up to in the morning or why you can’t work the extra hours. The anxiety becomes the catalyst to arguments, simply because it is misunderstood and not effectively addressed.

Hopefully, in the examples above you can understand how anxiety on an individual level can filter to impacting the health of the relationship.

Below are simple changes that you can do today to support your partner and the health of the relationship:

Sign up for a couples counseling session. Use this session to gain education and skills that focus on the origin to anxiety, triggers that escalate anxiety symptoms, and coping skills that help to reduce negative symptoms associated with anxiety.

Register for the relationship building course. In this course, I act as a relationship coach, where I teach you how mental health plays into a relationship and what you can do to address topics like anxiety. In the course, you gain access to working with me while gaining the skills and tools to improve the health of your relationship.

How to help your partner with a panic attack

Panic attacks are not easy. It’s an experience that causes a person to feel completely and utterly out of control. As a partner, it is vital to learn how to help your partner with panic attacks or symptoms associated with anxiety.

A great place to start is to learn more about panic attacks. Common symptoms of panic attacks include:

• Pounding or racing heartbeat
• Difficult breathing
• Sweating
• The sense of terror or impending doom
• Choking sensation
• Muscle tension

Once you are able to understand the symptoms that your partner is going through, you can shift to providing support with communication.

Relationship Counseling can help couples address issues, overcome challenges and build a healthy relationship. Call 336-707-1723 to schedule your relationship counseling appointment.

Communication is a way to gain an understanding of your partner’s condition.

Overall, the goal is to create a relationship that highlights EMPATHY, UNDERSTANDING, SUPPORT, GUIDANCE, AND LOVE.

To show or demonstrate empathy, understanding, support, guidance, and love means that you have to value your partner. Love your partner during the good moments and those that require you to provide support.

Start by focusing on the following areas of value:

• Value your partner by working to accept their condition. Your partner may not a sports fan. That’s okay. The important area of focus is that this is your partner and you should work to acceptance. Acceptance can be demonstrated by engaging in acts of kindness and through simple statements that show concern. Acceptance is a core strategy that is taught in the relationship building course.

• As a therapist, it’s is vital to my work that I strive to see through the eyes of another. As a partner, focus on understanding your partner’s condition. Demonstrate that you are willing and yearning to learn and explore their world. Differences are meant to bring us together.
• Talk to your partner about their experiences and their feelings. Listen without judgment. Learn without lecturing. Work to explore their feelings in a manner is free of judgment and filled with understanding.