What do you do when your marriage partner has to deal with persistent fears, anxieties, or even depression? The first thing you need to do is to seek the services of a professional who can lead them in the right direction. In addition, here are 6 tips on how you can help your spouse cope with his or her anxieties.
1. Educating Yourself Is Important: Learn as much as you can about the management of anxiety and depression. There are many books and information that will educate you and that you can share with your spouse.
2. Be Understanding: You must be cooperative and patient with the person struggling with their fears. Dealing with fear and anxiety can be very difficult for the person.
3. Learn from Your Experiences: In every stress related situation you two experience, begin to learn what works, what doesn’t and where you need improvement. Be it taking a walk or a drive, identify those activities that ease the anxiety.
4. Manage Your Thoughts: Challenge your negative thinking with positive statements and realistic thinking. When encountering thoughts that make you fearful or anxious, challenge those thoughts by asking yourself questions that will maintain objectivity and common sense.
5. Things Do Change: Remember things change and events do not stay the same. How you may feel overwhelmed today is not necessarily how you will feel the rest of the week or month. The reality is whatever you may have feared does happen there are circumstances and factors that you can’t predict which can be used to your advantage.
6. Take It Slow: Learn to take one day at a time. Instead of worrying about how you will get through the rest of the week, try to focus on today and learning how to deal with finding the answers to your problems.
When your fears and anxieties have the best of you, seek help from a professional. The key is to be patient, take it slow, and not to give up. In time, you will be able to find those resources that will help you with your problems.
BIOGRAPHY:
Stan Popovich is the author of “A Layman’s Guide to Managing Fear Using Psychology, Christianity and Non-Resistant Methods” – an easy to read book that presents a general overview of techniques that are effective in managing persistent fears and anxieties. For additional information go to www.managingfear.com.