When Anxiety Is Causing Damage to Your Marriage

Your spouse is often one of the most influential figures in your life. What you probably do not realize is that they can also significantly affect your health. If your spouse has an anxiety disorder, it can have a profound impact not only on your relationship, but on your health and your quality of life as well. Anxiety can be overwhelming and leave you feeling powerless to make change. 

According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, anxiety disorders are the most prevalent type of mental health condition in the country, affecting more than 40 million adults. It’s no wonder that anxiety is so common with all of the unrelenting pressures and responsibilities involved in managing life today. Without skills and tools to manage this stress, anxiety can affect your marriage negatively.

Signs That Anxiety Is Negatively Impacting Your Marriage

In a way, anxiety can sometimes be beneficial as a warning sign that something needs to be addressed. For example, it’s normal to feel anxious when things seem off in your relationship or you are facing unresolved conflicts. It helps you as a couple to reflect and take the necessary steps to try to resolve conflict and improve communication. This can feel difficult to do on your own, couples counseling can help. 

Whether anxiety is caused by family, work, financial, or health problems,
anxiety can negatively affect your marriage in a variety of ways. 

  1. It’s no secret that anxiety affects an individual’s way of thinking, behaving, feeling, and functioning on a daily basis. Studies show that when it affects one or both partners, anxiety can make them feel less comfortable and less close with each other.
  2. When one partner has an anxiety disorder, the other may also experience a great deal of personal distress. Seeing someone you love struggle and experience reduced ability to give, receive, and face the demands of daily life can leave you feeling unsafe. This can lead you to similarly react in a fight/flight mode. This loss of security can harm your connection and intimacy. Feelings of depression, fear, resentment, and guilt may even begin to emerge.
  3. Anxiety can reduce a partner’s ability to perform routine household chores, leaving the other partner feeling annoyed while taking on the larger share of domestic, parenting, economic, and other responsibilities. 
  4. The partner with anxiety may also need extra consideration, taking into account symptoms and adjusting activities and engagements to meet their needs. 
  5. Withdrawal is common with anxiety which can impact social lives and connection in the relationship and outside of it. Without a network of support, you may both feel isolated and alone.

Making Your Marriage Healthy Again

It is easy to feel helpless and scared if you feel that anxiety is wrecking your relationship. Seeing your significant other mired in anxiety can leave you emotionally drained as you focus your attention on everything except yourself. Your mental health may suffer; you may feel that taking care of your partner’s anxiety is more than you can handle. You need to take care of yourself and caring for another person’s mental health is outside of anyone’s scope, it is important to seek professional help when tackling anxiety. 

Although it can be frightening to reach out to others for support, know that you can get the help you need by seeking counseling when anxiety is negatively impacting your relationship.

Carolina Counseling Services in Fayetteville, North Carolina contracts with skilled licensed therapists and psychiatric professionals. Couples counseling or marriage counseling can help you and your partner to tackle anxiety and find effective ways to move forward together. 

Psychiatric medication management and individual therapy can also be powerful tools to address anxiety. Anxiety is treatable, you aren’t alone. Call CCS today to schedule your first appointment. 

Providers are in network with most major insurances including Aetna, Aetna State Health Plan, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC), Tricare, Medicaid and many more!

Related Articles:

Jaime Johnson Fitzpatrick LCMHCS, LCAS is one of the Owners and Vice Presidents of Carolina Counseling Services. She is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor and Licensed Clinical Addictions Specialist in the State of North Carolina as well as a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in State of New York. Jaime is also certified in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and utilizes various other approaches in her practice.