Remember, forming and quickly ending relationships doesn’t just affect you. That means you have an established self-identity and don’t lose it in the relationship. You can work to get your own needs met but also know when to look to your partner for help and support. A committed partner can provide emotional support, a sense of connection and belonging, and help meet other needs.
Love Plus Addiction
- “Love addiction” isn’t a formal diagnosis — rather, the term describes people who constantly seek out the exciting feelings of new love.
- They also often lead you to engage in compulsive behaviors to relieve the stress they cause you.
- Postdoctoral psychology fellow Gina Gerardo, PhD, talks us through “love addiction” and how you can strengthen your relationship with love.
- After all, we need to connect with others to continue our existence, so we want — even crave — these bonds throughout our lives.
Taking care of yourself is essential as you navigate this disorder with your partner. CSBD refers to a pattern of recurring sexual behaviors and the inability to control them. These urges, fantasies, or actions can often have dire social and work-related consequences. There’s no precise definition for love addiction because it’s not an actual condition as much as it is an abstract concept. After all, you can’t really test love in a lab and see how someone reacts. Postdoctoral psychology fellow Gina Gerardo, PhD, talks us through “love addiction” and how you can strengthen your relationship with love.
Addressing Mental Health Needs
For example, maybe to deal with feelings of love addiction, you decide to spend more time alone. Communicating this change in your behavior with your partner so they know what your motivations are can help maintain a healthy bond. And if you’re having trouble putting your emotions into words, couples counseling can also be a good option. But lust can also lead to true love as we become attached to and get to know our sexual partner, and lust doesn’t always fade. However, true love does require that we recognize our separateness and love our mate for who he or she truly is.
Communication Breakdown
In the quest for balance and stability in a relationship with an addict, we embark on a journey of self-discovery and growth. Educating ourselves about addiction, setting boundaries, practicing self-care, and fostering effective communication are the stepping stones to a healthier dynamic. Alongside these efforts, encouraging professional help and promoting healthy coping mechanisms become our guiding lights. Let’s dive into this transformative process, empowering ourselves to navigate the complexities of this challenging journey. To address these challenges, both partners must consistently make efforts to rebuild trust and create a safe space for honest communication.
Addiction, particularly drug addiction, can wreak havoc on trust and communication within a relationship. Mood swings and irritability brought on by substance abuse can lead to tension, arguments, and even abuse. As the addicted person becomes more focused on their addiction, they loving an addict may resort to lying to protect their partner from getting hurt or to feel free to use drugs without judgment. Establishing and maintaining healthy relationships is a challenge for anyone, but it becomes even more difficult when substance abuse, such as alcohol abuse, is involved.
Addiction and relationship problems ultimately go hand-in-hand in most cases. You will likely see that if you’re in a relationship with a drug addict, they become a completely different person than the one you originally knew. While doing a drug or taking the first drink is a choice, addiction is a disease of the brain that alters the cognition and behavior of the addict in deep, profound ways. They are solely driven by not only a psychological but also a physiological need to continue using, and those drug, or alcohol-related needs are their number one priority. Couples affected by addiction can find help in the form of individual and group counseling as well as support groups, providing necessary support and guidance throughout their journey to recovery. Codependency in a relationship with an addict is a situation where one partner has strong physical or emotional needs and their partner devotes much of their time to addressing those needs.
Being in a Relationship with an Addict: Finding Balance and Stability
With the support of friends and family and the practice of therapeutic journaling, Sarah and her partner navigated the challenges of addiction and found stability in their relationship. By promoting healthy coping mechanisms, they improved their overall well-being and strengthened their bond on the path to recovery. There are a variety of resources and support groups available to couples dealing with addiction. These resources can provide invaluable guidance and assistance throughout the recovery process, helping both partners navigate the challenges they face and work towards a healthier, more loving relationship. Once the recovery process has begun, it is essential for couples to work together to rebuild trust and emotional intimacy in their relationship. This can be achieved by focusing on communication, understanding, and support.