Is Your Anxiety Destroying Your Relationship?

Relationships can be very fulfilling and rewarding.

However, relationships are hard work. Even the most natural and healthy looking relationship still requires hard work.

Period.

Your marriage or dating relationship can be even more challenging when you are also managing your mental health especially anxiety. Anxiety causes your mind to interpret, over analyze, and create worries and worst case scenario hypothetical situations.

It’s exhausting.

When your anxiety starts interfering in your relationship it can lead to more strain on the relationship and with your significant other.

I’m an anxiety therapist in Wilmington, NC and specialize in counseling for women. I provide anxiety treatment, therapy for perfectionism, overcoming imposter syndrome, and burnout counseling.

Click the button below to schedule a free 15 minute consultation.

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Keep reading to learn more about reasons women may experience increased anxiety and how anxiety may be affecting your relationship.

Women and Anxiety

Anxiety impacts women a lot and so it makes sense how anxiety could also have big impacts on a relationship.

According to the Office on Women’s Health, women are more than twice as likely to develop an anxiety disorder.

Some reasons women may experience anxiety include:

Family history of anxiety
Carrying the “mental load” in the relationship
Hormones
Having a high achiever personality
Increased responsibilities in the workplace, household, and with family
Stress and overwhelm
Being a Highly Sensitive Person or Empath
Other mental health challenges that may increase anxiety

Common anxiety symptoms include:

Nervousness
Irritability
Difficulty concentrating and staying focused
Excessive Worry
Restlessness
Fear
Racing thoughts or thoughts that are persistent and happen quickly
Difficulty sleeping
Feeling tired or fatigue
Feeling nausea

To learn more about anxiety check out these other helpful blog posts:

Understanding Your Anxiety and How to Treat It

5 Tips for Choosing the Best Anxiety Therapist in Wilmington, NC

What to Expect When You Start Therapy for Anxiety

If this feels familiar to you, keep reading to learn how your anxiety could be affecting your marriage or dating relationship.

5 Ways Anxiety Affects Relationships

As discussed above there are plenty of reasons why you may be experiencing anxiety and there are many ways your anxiety could be showing up. Listed below are 5 ways your anxiety could be impacting your relationship.

#1 Difficulty Communicating

Communicating your thoughts and feelings can be a very vulnerable experience. Often times so much so that a person with anxiety may hold back from sharing their thoughts and feelings. It can be uncomfortable and anxiety producing which often leads to procrastination. This can impact a relationship because when person avoids communicating it can lead to arguments, feelings of resentment, and difficulty getting your needs.

When anxiety presents as irritability it can also cause a lot of defensiveness while communicating.

#2 You Can Be Avoidant

Anxiety and avoidance are like best friends. The cycle of anxiety is all about avoiding uncomfortable and unwanted thoughts, feelings, and situations. In the short term avoiding often makes you feel better but often creates a lot more problems in the long term.

When you are avoidant in your relationship, it causes you to shut down in many ways and creates a ripple effect throughout your relationship.

#3 Creates a Breakdown in Trust

Anxiety can cause you to feel insecure in your relationship. Your brain encourages you to find “red flags” or create scenarios and worries where there may not be anything wrong. These things allow you to not be present in your relationship and takes away from yourself and your partner.

#4 Overdependent

Just the opposite of being avoidant is being overdependent on your relationship. This can look like not trusting yourself, having a lot of self-doubt, and seeking a lot of reassurance from your partner. Consistently looking for reassurance and not only can lower your own self-esteem but adds a lot of pressure on your relationship. This can also create resentment for your partner.

#5 Things Are No Longer Fun

At one point your relationship was full of excitement and feelings of happiness. Relationship cycles happen. So maybe the “newness” and honeymoon phase has worn off and that’s okay and to be expected. However, anxiety can also easily come in and crash that party too. When anxiety is happening it takes away from the present moment. Little things that brought you joy seem to be one extra thing to do or sex and intimacy is no longer enjoyable because you are feeling worried and stressed about other things.

Check out part 2 of this blog series next week to discover 5 things you can do to not let anxiety ruin your relationship.

Start Therapy for Anxiety in WIlmington, NC to Help Improve Your Relationship

Anxiety is overwhelming but it doesn’t have to ruin your relationship.

You can get help and support for anxiety at Calm Waters Counseling by following these four easy steps:

Click the button to schedule your free 15 minute consultation
Complete the brief questionnaire sent to your email after the consultation request
Meet with your anxiety therapist via phone call or video
Start enjoying your relationship with less anxiety

I'm Ready! Schedule My Consultation

Counseling for Women in Wilmington, NC

Learn more about me and my Wilmington, NC counseling practice here! I specialize in therapy for women providing anxiety treatment, treatment for perfectionism, therapy for imposter syndrome, and burnout counseling.

Online Anxiety Therapy in Maryland

There are a lot of added benefits to online therapy. I am a licensed social worker in Maryland and North Carolina. To learn more about online therapy in each of these states, click the link below.