How Addictions Can Interfere In Relationship Success
When we can’t cope well with our emotions, we may turn to an addiction. If you have been relying on a certain activity to get your satisfaction, you may be stuck in a mental loop where you will seek out one specific activity to get the feeling that you want. The addiction could be any of a number of ones. It could be a video gaming addiction, shopping addiction, drug addiction or alcoholism.
People want to feel good, but having an addiction means that there is a compulsion to act and time that is taken away from your partner in order to be a part of the addiction. After the high wears off, we may feel embarrassed, alone and ashamed that we have such a compulsion to act without control of ourselves.
When we are in a relationship, we should be able to trust and be open with our partner about what it is that we feel that we are missing or even just what we are experiencing. It is not our partner’s responsibility to cure or solve any addiction, but even giving clear communication about what is happening with us and telling him or her how we are feeling will shed some light on the difficulties that we are going through.
Humans enjoy predictability and knowing what is going to happen next. If your partner is concerned with an addiction that you have, talk through it. You may not know the answers why, but you will know how you are feeling before and after you have partaken in the addictive activity. Make a plan with a specialist who can help you overcome an addiction. Taking full responsibility for your addiction and not putting that burden on your partner is the next step. There are specialists out there that you can find that have the experience, knowledge and training to help people through the worst of their addictions.
If our partner is going through an addictive pattern or reverting back to addictive habits, we may feel burdened or more alone than ever. We have no current solution to their problems and we know that it is not so easy to just stop an addiction with somebody.
Addictions can vary. There are ones that aren’t super harmful to your body or others, but may impact your life by taking time away from you and your partner. There are some that are damaging to your mind and body, in which case, professional help is needed to overcome these damaging addictions.
Addictions, whatever form that they come in, take time away from the partner and the relationship. If someone has a compulsion to act in a certain manner, that person has not yet conquered their addiction. Maybe they are using an addiction to get a feeling and they feel that activity is the only way that they can experience it. Maybe the addiction was programmed into them earlier in life. Maybe it is an escape. Maybe it is all of the above. Relationship success is affected if one side of the relationship feels burdened, hurt or at a loss because of a partner’s decisions and actions. It may be difficult to overcome, but it can be done if the other partner sees a need for change and knows how it affects his or her partner.
