Many people who live with a sick family member, especially if they must care for them, can end up developing an emotional exhaustion syndrome with symptoms of anxiety or depression, which is especially common among relatives of patients with depressive, obsessive, anxiety disorders or who suffer from other problems. mental health that directly affects family life.
Affective relationships with family members always have a special impact on people's emotional well-being. When the relationship with a child becomes problematic, the psychological repercussions can be significant. Thus, for example, when parents feel overwhelmed by their child's behavior and no longer know what else to do, it is easy for them to make the mistake of becoming defensive and accusing the child of the problem, leading to an escalation of tensions. and very painful confrontations that make it impossible to solve the problem.
A mature and healthy relationship can only be built by two people who have freely decided to share life (freely means that both have the capacity to function well alone) and who have built a relationship based on mutual respect, trust, affection. and co-responsibility; capable of making decisions that include the needs and preferences of both members of the couple, and facing conflicts in a supportive manner.
When any of these conditions are not met, the relationship is likely to be problematic and unsatisfying for one or, more commonly, both members of the couple. In practice, the majority of couples do not meet these conditions and must face numerous conflicts with greater or lesser skill and fortune, with many couples deciding to separate after a few years of coexistence and frustration.
Thus, for example, in immature people or people with low self-esteem, the relationship becomes a solution to one's own shortcomings: One meets someone who provides the security or affection that one is not capable of giving oneself, starting a relationship that It is not based on freedom, but on dependence (as in the original relationship with parents); And necessarily, the other member of the couple is someone who does not trust their own qualities and who only feels safe if they need it, developing possessive and aggressive attitudes, especially when they feel that the other no longer needs them as much.
Some common difficulties that couples encounter are the distribution of domestic tasks, sexual dysfunctions (see Sexual Disorders), a problematic relationship with families of origin, disagreements in raising children (see), overcoming infidelity , facing a separation or divorce process, etc.
The person presents an uncertainty in relation to some of the basic aspects that shape their identity, for example, sexual orientation, professional, values, etc.
The false conviction that they would not be able to get out of it alone, leads the person to devote all their energy to avoiding the breakdown of the relationship, to the point of renouncing their own needs and coming to endure humiliation and psychological abuse.
Although anxiety reactions are not usually as intense as in social phobia, on the contrary, they affect most social situations. Insecurity and the need to go unnoticed limit the ability to start and maintain new relationships in all areas.
The causes can be various, basically, having felt mistreated or undervalued. The person is excessively critical of himself, does not recognize the right to enjoy or to rest and tends to establish relationships with people who do not respect him.
In this case, the problem is having suffered physical abuse in the form of hits or beatings, by another adult, and the psychological effects on the victim. It usually occurs within the family and when the victim is an adult, it is usually a couple or an elderly person.
When an adult suffers abuse, coercion or rape, apart from the immediate suffering, they will very often end up developing a psychological disorder.
The normal reaction to the loss of a loved one is similar to depression, which does not usually require treatment and follows the following course: At first, you may have a reaction of denial (not believing that the person has died), then , anger (against destiny, against doctors, against God...) or guilt (anger against oneself for what one has done or what one has not done), depression (when one identifies everything that the loss of the person who has died) and finally, acceptance, when one manages to integrate this painful experience into one's own biography and move forward with the rest of one's life project. Depending on the previous circumstances and psychological state of the person who suffers the loss of a loved one, they may or may not develop some disorder or complicated grief, which is characterized by the inability to integrate the loss and stagnation in some phase. previous.
The stress that can be generated by a problem at work, especially when it has to do with the relationship with colleagues or bosses, may require psychological care aimed at reducing anxious or depressive reactions and finding more effective alternatives to confront the problem.
Luís Maestre i Funtané. Tots els Drets Reservats. Elaborat per Sytel Media
