How Mental Health Counseling Helps Manage Anxiety In Marriages
Posted on: 13 October 2020
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A little worry and concern is common in any relationship and may be necessary for maintaining connections. However, too much anxiety can make a marriage unworkable by creating a high level of unnecessary fear and worry that becomes hard to tolerate. Thankfully, mental health counseling can help save a marriage when used to manage anxiety dangers and the problems that anxiety may otherwise cause in a happy and stable relationship.
Anxiety Can Destroy Marriages
Generalized anxiety is a condition that causes a person to feel anxiety about a broad range of things, such as their job, relationships with friends and family members, and things that they cannot control. In a marriage, out-of-control anxiety of this type can be particularly problematic. For example, a spouse may worry about their partner when they drive alone, fearful that they may get into an accident.
And this anxiety can spread to other factors of their life, such as worrying about their partner getting sick, developing fear if they are quiet and not talkative during the day, or worrying that their spouse may be having an affair. The non-anxious partner may feel alienated and annoyed due to this anxiety — so much so that a divorce may be inevitable without mental health counseling for the anxious partner.
Ways Counseling Can Help
Mental health counseling is a critical step for those with anxiety because it can help identify the source of their anxieties and provide treatment. For example, those with generalized anxiety may need medication to calm their overactive mind and feel comfortable. And behavioral therapy can help them spot when they are spiraling and bring them back down, limiting their chances of alienating a partner.
Just as importantly, the partner without anxiety may need some counseling if their partner has caused them any concern. For example, they may have developed some anxiety about their anxious partner and developed a co-dependency based on these fears. Co-counseling in this situation can help decrease these fears and provide both partners with a better understanding of each other.
By getting this help, couples can not only save their marriage but have a better understanding of themselves. Thankfully, mental health counseling can take on many forms. Individual counseling provides a person with a one-on-one relationship with a counselor that can be very encouraging. However, group or even couples therapy provides a support group that makes it easier to work for some.
To learn more, contact a mental health counselor.