Needing Help Dealing With My GF's Severe Anxiety
Hello /r/MentalHealth - this is my first time posting here. I'm currently dealing with a highly stressful and unhealthy relationship with someone I love, and have been dating for nearly a year. While I've know about her issues since the beginning, I believe her mental health problems have gotten to a breaking point for me. I do not want to dump her because I still love her and would like to see her treated, but something absolutely has to change. She has anxiety attacks nearly every week where I'll say something seemingly innocuous that will set her off (it can be something as little as: "I can't hang out tomorrow because I've made plans with a friend"). We hand out nearly every day and even something as small as not being able to sleep in the same bed for 1 night a week triggers separation anxiety and her mistrust for men (leftover from an emotionally-abusive ex-boyfriend). She's come to me and agreed she probably needs help from a counselor or medication or both, which I certainly agree with. And while she has seen a doctor for a physical and checkup once and is scheduled for a followup, I don't believe she will address all of her issues with the doctor unless I'm there in the room encouraging her to open up. She won't let me go with her. She also refuses to tell her family because she's upset they haven't noticed on their own. What can I do to help her? As someone who's dealt with mental health issues of my own, I do think a combination of medication, counselling, and self-help/lifestyle type things would suite her well, but if something doesn't change soon I simply cannot deal with this as her partner. I would never dump her and leave her to her own devices because that seems immoral to me, and I want her to get better on a human level, not just a relationship level. But it's also to the point where I'm unhappy in my own life because of this burden and the relationship is completely unfair of what she demands of me. She is constantly needing me to drive over at 2am to comfort her, and I feel like I have no choice but to bow to her every demands since she's mentally ill. Something has to change but I have no idea what I can do to help her and improve our relationship. Any advice would be highly appreciated.
0 comments:
Post a Comment