Mental health is a menace in society today. Various forms of mental health have surfaced, causing significant strain on individuals. Common cognitive problems include generalized anxiety disorder, depressive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. These issues can have a considerable impact on your social life. Here are ways mental health will affect your relationships.
Intimacy Issues
Relationships thrive on intimacy. Unfortunately, mental issues will deny you the chance to be intimate with your partner. This condition could make you disinterested in sex because of treatment or a mental problem. For instance, anti-depressants are associated with low libido. Continuous ingestion of these drugs means that you will hardly want to have sex.
At the same time, various mental issues can affect how you view sex. For instance, generalized anxiety disorder could make you significantly anxious whenever you want to have sex—sexual performance anxiety results in poor intimacy. Suppose you suffer from low self-esteem. In this case, you’ll not want to engage in sex for fear of poor performance.
Erratic behavior could also compromise your intimate life. No one would be willing to engage in sex with an individual who appears angry, agitated, or annoyed. In such instances, you might blame your partner for various unwarranted reasons, pushing them even further. Your intimate life will be a nightmare unless you can handle this issue.
The Emergence of Codependent Behaviors
Codependency is when one person needs another, who needs to be needed. It is a circular relationship that could significantly affect your social life. Ideally, this arrangement is imbalances, and it encourages one partner to engage in destructive behavior or tendencies. These tendencies could substantially affect the entire relationship.
A codependent individual has issues articulating their emotions, making it hard to relate with other people. This person might also want to please everyone, sacrifice their personal needs for others, and remain loyal to a fault. All these elements make it hard to build a meaningful relationship or social life in the long run.
In most cases, codependency is enabled by a partner who is not sick. This partner allows the other to act in ways that undermine the relationship without warning them. Encouraging their behavior can only worsen the situation. Remember, a partner to a mentally ill person might start deriving their self-worth from how much they are needed or if they can take care of their loved ones. In turn, they are forced into uncomfortable positions.
According to Dr. Jason Campbell, a mental health expert, codependency will often result in abusive and manipulative behavior. Name-calling and other unhealthy dynamics will also emerge. It will put a strain on one partner, in the long run, ending the relationship.
Resentment
Mental issues could force an individual to withdraw from family and friends. You could attribute this to a significant dip in self-esteem. Withdrawing from friends, family, and loved ones means that they cannot sustain relationships for a long time.
At the same time, this patient might feel ashamed, guilty, and embarrassed about their condition. In turn, they will want to push people away from them. This will significantly frustrate their partners, as they will not be in a position to help or understand them better.
Various mental issues, including depression, could make an individual emotionally unavailable. This person will struggle to maintain the relationship, communication, and intimacy. Unfortunately, they will give up and start resenting their partners at some point.
Financial Struggles
Mental issues take a toll on one’s productivity. That means they will hardly have a job, resulting in financial constraints. Such financial conditions are attributed to causing relationship issues. In conclusion, mental issues will strain your relationships significantly. It would be best to get adequate medical attention on time.
