Being in a committed relationship, whether it’s a marriage or partnership, can be the cause of a significant amount of stress. In the long term, stressful relationships decrease quality of life and certainly have an impact on mental and emotional health. The most common topics of conflict in relationships include:
- Finances
- Quality time together
- Division of labor
- Children
- Infertility
- Intimacy
- Problems with relatives
When building a life with another person, it is inevitable that some bumps and kinks will arise. How a couple handles these problems will make all the difference in a relationship.
Communication
The quality of a couple’s communication is an important factor in a relationship. Men and women generally have different preferences for successful communication. Women often prefer open communication and discussions about feelings in order to solve conflicts, whereas men are likely more reserved when expressing feelings. It would be helpful to find out how your partner communicates best, in order to satisfy each other’s relationship needs and to avoid inconsistencies.
Listening skills
Listening to what your partner has to say and responding in a calm and respectful manner can help resolve a conflict rather than escalate it.
Attitude
Negativity, hostility, and disregard for a partner’s needs and opinions contribute to a negative relationship between partners. Positive behavior, warmth, support, humor, and physical affection are all vital in maintaining relationship satisfaction.
Couple’s Therapy
Couple’s therapy is a wonderful tool to gain strategies on how better to connect with your partner, to pinpoint what is going wrong, and to work out relevant issues. And, as an added bonus, the behaviors learned in this type of therapy are transferable to everyday life.
No relationship is perfect. It is important to always have faith in your relationship, to remember your commitment to one another, and to seek motivation to work towards a solution. Work with your partner to gain support in times of stress instead of turning against one another.
References
- Andrews, F. M., Abbey, A., & Halman, L. J. (1991). Stress from infertility, marriage factors, and subjective well-being of wives and husbands. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 32(3), 238. https://doi.org/10.2307/2136806
- Beck, A. T. (1989). Best summaries love is never enough . Retrieved May 16, 2022, from https://www.associationcbt.ru/ wp-content/uploads/2015/12/ Love_is_Never_Enough-www.itworkss.com_.pdf
- Pearl, L., & Kassan, L. (2012). Beginning Couple Therapy: Helping Couples Attain Emotional
- Fluency. Group, 36(1), 3–18. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41719342
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pmc/articles/PMC4852543/
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