How Can Your Partner’s Anxiety Affect You and How to Deal with It?
Aashima Jain
Living with anxiety can be extremely difficult as it is emotionally and mentally exhausting to grapple with anxious thoughts constantly. But loving someone with anxiety can be difficult too. Often you might feel overwhelmed or powerless due to your partner’s emotions and anxiety. In such cases, anxiety becomes the third person in the relationship which causes rifts and confusion between the partners.
If you find yourself in a similar situation and are worried about the future of the relationship, felicity care is here to help you. To manage your partner’s day-to-day anxiety along with taking care of yourself, we recommend you begin by taking a closer look at anxiety. Once you know the in and outs of anxiety and anxiety disorder, you will not only be able to support your partner better but also foster more trust and love in your relationship.
What Are the Major Causes of Anxiety?
The exact causes of anxiety disorders are known but doctors suggest anxiety can be caused due to a variety of genetic, environmental, and situational factors. Additionally, anxiety disorders often occur in combination with other mental health conditions like depression, ADHD, schizophrenia, dementia, developmental disorders, etc.
Situational Factors
- Stress at work/school
- Financial stress
- Death of a loved one
- Separation from a loved one
- Unpredictable situations like a global pandemic, political events, etc.
- Past trauma
- Facing racism/sexism
Medical Factors
- Anti-seizure medication
- Drugs containing excessive caffeine
- Corticosteroids
- Medicine/drug abuse
- Mental health conditions
- Health palpitations
- Hormonal imbalance
- Chronic illness
Environmental Factors
- Pollution
- Change in altitude
- Natural disasters
Why is it important to address mental health in a relationship?
Yes, it can be taxing to deal with your partner’s anxiety, but it does not necessarily have to put a lot of strain on the relationship. However, it is only possible when the people involved in the relationship are open to addressing the anxiety disorder or any other mental health issue at hand. Once you will openly communicate with your partner, you will not feel constantly stressed about what your partner is feeling and why. Earlier you might have been hesitant to tell them certain things or interact with them regarding other crucial matters. Once, you will open the communication channel and let your partner know it is a safe space where he/she can unload the emotions, it will be a major step forward.
Addressing the mental health issue at hand will also allow you to handle your partner’s anxiety well and avoid the triggers. Often with anxiety disorders, certain triggers can start a downward spiral. Once you know them, you will be well equipped to shield your partner from the triggers.
How can your partner’s anxiety affect your mental peace and relationship?
Constantly managing your partner’s anxiety and feelings might lead to you repressing your own emotions, consciously or unconsciously. Additionally, if you won’t be able to share your emotions with your partner due to the fear of hurting them, you will be more burdened. Your partner might not be able to see this because anxiety can cause a person to behave selfishly and focus all the energy on his/her problems. Your emotions and feelings can take a backseat which can be extremely upsetting for you.
Sometimes anxiety can cause a person to be overly dependent on someone. If your partner is overly dependent on you and robbing you of your time and space, it can affect your mental peace. Their overdependence on you can affect both of your social interactions with others. This situation can lead to frustration and emotional lashing out of either of the two. Sometimes when situations go out of hand, the lashing out can also take physical assault forms.
How can you both work on reaching a better stage in life?
As we mentioned before, communication is the key. If you feel there are some inhibitions and some hesitancy on both of your sides to communicate openly, your partner can seek outside help and therapy. If they are a little hesitant to try therapy, do not try to push your opinion on them. It is a big step and rejecting therapy at first is an instinct for many. However, take time and effort to talk to your partner about it and help them understand how it can help both of you in the long run. You can find therapists for them, however, do not simply book an appointment for them. Let them take the first step toward their mental well-being.
You and your partner can also seek couple’s therapy. This will help both of you create an open communication channel between the two of you and sustain it for long. A therapist can help you both understand the partner’s anxiety better and live with it productively. It is important to remember while treating anxiety disorders, the goal is not to get rid of them completely but learn to live with them. Then gradually a person can cultivate habits and learn to manage the symptoms of anxiety better. Hence, therapy can be immensely helpful in such situations.
Conclusion
Do not think that this cannot happen to you, or that you will never date someone with anxiety. It is not something that you have control over. If you find a partner who has anxiety, do not worry. Yes, it can be difficult to navigate your life around it but it is not something impossible. Keep everything we have mentioned above in mind and take that leap of faith. It is not very often that you find the exact person you want to spend your life with. If you have found someone but are only hesitant because of issues like anxiety or other mental health conditions, do not overthink. Just go for it and prepare yourself to put some extra effort into the relationship. In the end, it will all be worth it.