If you have a partner in therapy, you may not know exactly how you should support them. Some common thoughts may cross your mind in the beginning. You may wonder why your partner thinks therapy is necessary or why they don’t want you to join them. You may even wonder how you will get the therapist to tell you everything your partner said about during the session, let those thoughts cross, and then exit your mind.
Then you start thinking of ways. You can support your partner in therapy. Most likely you are the one who has been encouraging them to seek help. We all are different, and there are various ways to support your significant other and yourself along the way. We wish we could take away all their pain or distress. However, we cannot do that. Here are a few things to keep in mind while your partner is joining through talk therapy.
- Give them space: let them have their space, and let them experience therapy in whatever way that is beneficial for them. You will probably be curious about their sessions. What they talk about or what they are working on trying to let your partner come to you with this information lets them hear what they want to see there on time.
- Educate yourself on the therapy process: if you have never engaged in therapy yourself, it may seem like a foreign idea. It can help to understand what occurs in therapy and answer some of the questions you may have about what this process looks like you can do this in many ways, but it never hurt to engage in your own therapy to get a better idea of what it is like if you’d like to schedule an appointment for counseling services or have questions contact us.
- Communicate with boundaries: it is not appropriate to ask your partner for a rundown of everything set in their therapy session. It’s essential you know how to communicate with boundaries when supporting your partner in therapy let your spouse determine how much they want to reveal from the session, and don’t mistake their lack of sharing with your relationship. Sometimes people just do not want to talk about it. If they don’t want to talk about it, don’t push it and respect their boundaries. Don’t take it personally and continue to let them know you are proud they are seeking help.
- Have Patience: therapy takes time to have the desired effect. We cannot expect change after a few sessions. Some therapies will require an hour partner to do homework between sessions. Other therapies encourage thought and being aware of their inner voice and emotions we might not notice a positive change for quite some time and we need to be patient. It will happen, and most likely it will be gradual if we can accept this and be there with comfort in whichever form is needed. We will be creating the condition for change that our partner needs rather than focusing on the number of weeks of sessions to recognize the positive outcomes occurring.
- Self-development and self-care: we might not want or need therapy ourselves but as our partner is taking the route of self development through therapy, it can help us our relationship and our partner if we do some sort of self development ourselves, we cannot fully support them unless you are mental and physically healthy It is likely they are learning from their therapist about the importance of self-care and development. This can be reading books, doing a course or taking part in groups as long as it is with the purpose of developing self-awareness, you can start implementing techniques to improve your health as they are doing the same.
- Do not compete with a therapist: You know your partners better than anybody there does not mean you can diagnose them with mental illness disorder. If your partner discusses their therapy you may find the therapist’s opinion differs from your opinion. It is not a good idea to disagree with the therapist’s assessment and recommendation when supporting your partner in therapy. Individual therapists spend many years of education and professional training to ensure to get it right trying to compete with their partners. The therapist is a futile exercise.
- Try relationship therapies: individual therapy is a great way of developing new life skills, self-awareness a different perspective on life and on ourselves, but it can also make changes that we didn’t expect it is not unusual for couples to attend relationship therapy to work with the changes that we are happening as a result of individual therapy, relationship, therapy or counseling can be reassuring, and is a deeper understanding of each other, while helping us to do the best we can for one another.
- Consider cutting some support too: having a partner in therapy it’s a good thing, but it can also create pressure to act as part of their support without receiving professional help of their own. Make sure that you get enough emotional nourishment to support yourself and them if they are in therapy for a specific issue like Al Khalij or depression see if there are any resources for a partner in that situation and make sure you have friends or family to turn to when you risk feeling isolate with the issues
- Being Supportive: while our partner attends therapy doesn’t have to be a matter of passively, standing by waiting for the change to happen nor does it mean we have to say in what happens next we can take this opportunity to develop our own compassion, empathy or self-awareness we can take in by being willing to listen to our partner and share our own experience of the process in our own self development having a good relationship takes communication a willingness to try to understand our another acceptance and patience these concepts will mean something different in every relationship, and being curious about what they mean to us, and our partner will help us to create a long, lasting, loving and supportive relationship.
Conclusion:
If your partner has a mental health condition or is going through something difficult, it can be stressful and painful too. Relationships are complex, even in the best circumstances when one or more of the involved parties are struggling with their mental health. It is easy for the relationship to become strained, as a partner, we want to be able to swoop in and solve their problem for them. For instance, it may help to consider your thoughts and feelings to close friends and family members. You can choose to start going to therapy yourself in order to replace unhealthy thoughts of partners.
