3 Ways Mental Health Counseling Can Help Strengthen Your Marriage
Posted on: 18 August 2020
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When it comes to mental health issues, it is easy to believe that your concerns only impact you. However, if you are married, the issues you face can also affect your partner. Unfortunately, these issues can create tension within your relationship, which can open the door to all sorts of problems. Mental health counseling may be able to help. If you have thought about seeking this type of counseling, learn how this step may be able to improve your relationship.
1. Communication Skills
Mental health issues can manifest in different ways. Whether it is severe depression, anxiety, or something else, for some people, the pressure and strain these concerns present can make it hard to communicate with others, including their spouse. Some people completely shut down and choose not to interact, and then there are those people who have a hard time connecting on an interpersonal level.
Counseling is a helpful tool for improving communication skills because, at its very core, the practice is all about communication; communicating what is wrong and how to make improvements. These same methods used in counseling can be applied to your marriage to improve communication.
2. Self-Sabotaging Behaviors
Self-sabotaging behaviors and mental health concerns can go hand-in-hand. For example, for many people who deal with bipolar disorder, there is a seemingly never-ending journey of ups and downs. However, unfortunately, there is a tendency to focus on the lows.
This sort of mindset can create a glass-half-full type of mindset that makes it easy to self-sabotage in every area of your life, including your marriage. Mental health counseling can help a person put their life in a better perspective so that they are not focusing on the negative and are instead moving towards behaviors that are more about building than tearing down.
3. Conflict Resolution
Two things are for certain: first, certain mental health concerns can present challenges when it comes to resolving problems, and second, conflict is a normal part of marriage. However, what is most important is the ability to work through these problems to come to a solution.
With the stress and overwhelming feelings that come with a mental health concern, it can be hard to sort through the chaos to work towards a solution. Counseling not only helps you work through the thoughts and emotions you feel but also provides you with the support you need to navigate through them so that you are better equipped to address and handle problems.
Life can feel like a whirlwind at times, but it does not have to. Speak with a counseling professional like Sharon O'Connell, MA to learn more.