Building a significant relationship with another human being is an intrinsic, substantial, and essential part of life. Relationships come in many forms, such as love for oneself, family, friends, and romantically.
According to the Ancient Greeks, romantic love or "Eros" is a concept referring to sensual or passionate love and involves desire.
For love to happen, attraction must come first. Interest occurs when the eight influences in our mind, namely: proximity, physical attractiveness, similarity, affect, responsiveness, reciprocal liking, and self-disclosure, are shared by both parties. This attraction gradually turns to love, thus forming romantic relationships.
Physical, mental, and emotional factors are usually in play during a romantic relationship. They must be stable and secure to develop a healthy and loving connection.
Among all these, mental health has the most significant effect on the relationship. Disagreements are expected and usually occur.
Sometimes, professional counseling is needed, such as those offered by Insight Northwest Counseling. They have professionals who can guide and help the couple through problems they experience, make amends, and strengthen the relationship.
Facets Of Mental Health
Everyone should consider several mental health aspects within themselves and their romantic partners. If these problems cause trouble for the couple and the individual, they might need a counseling session to rekindle the spark in the relationship. These facets of mental health are:
- Psychological
When discussing mental health, the factor usually focused on is someone's psychological state. The mind is the most complicated body part, dictating everything from ourselves to our relationships with people.
A person's attitude, coping skills, emotions, behavior, and personality are all parts of psychological factors that can influence relationships intrapersonally and interpersonally.
Usually, when psychological matters are involved, the best course of action would be to refer and find a counselor. These people are professionals trained to identify the root cause of the problems a person may encounter.
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- Biological
Physical and mental health are more connected and intertwined than most people think. Something that affects one can affect the other as well. This is why mood changes are common whenever a person is physically sick.
Similarly, physical factors can have a positive or a negative impact on one's mental health, which can even affect their relationships as well.
Consider factors such as genetics, age, immune response, and possibly disability and know if they are the possible cause of mental health troubles a person may experience.
- Social
These are the interpersonal or external connections that human beings have, including their romantic partners, and other people in their lives, starting from the closest ones to the most significant scale.
They can affect, give advice, and significantly support or discourage someone from doing or pursuing something, even in their romantic relationships. Though they are outside the relationship, they must be considered an essential factor in mental health.
Social support, religion, education, work, culture, and wealth are some social factors that can affect a relationship.
Related: 21 Questions for a New Relationship
Indicators Of Poor Mental Health
There are indicators and signs if the person, their partner, or both of them, needs counseling services to help with their problems.
A session with a counselor can provide insights and perspectives and use new techniques to address, understand, and guide the person with their issue, which they can resolve later on.
Some things to watch out for in keeping someone's mental health in check are usually one or more of the following:
- Negative Moods
One of the most obvious signs that someone's mental health is not in the best condition is when they act differently in a negative way compared to their usual mood. In psychology, the mood is defined as an affective state and a cluster of persisting feelings usually associated with evaluative and cognitive conditions.
These can influence the person's future evaluations, feelings, and actions. Suppose someone's mood is generally unfavorable for a reason or no reason. In that case, it is best to check on them or ask them if they need proper guidance and counseling if the mood starts to affect their lives negatively.
- Poor Concentration
When presented with a task, a person is expected to put their mind and effort into it. However, if someone has problems with focusing, gets easily distracted or zones out, and can barely do the task commonly easy or routine for them, it can be a sign that their mental health is not in the best state.
Stress levels are widely the most significant factors that can make someone unfocused. Still, other factors can also cause poor concentration, such as physical matters, psychological troubles, social aspects, etc.
When poor concentration disrupts normal executive functions of someone and causes problems within themselves and in the relationship, they might need a guide from a counselor.
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- Irritability
The amygdala, or the part of the brain that controls emotional responses to the environment, is the reason why someone may be irritable. Poor mental health can affect this part of the brain, giving them a proneness to negative affective states, and possible feelings of anger, annoyance, and frustration.
These may be covert, but when irritability is visible, it can significantly affect relationships with other people, especially romantic ones. These can cause arguments and misunderstandings between couples.
Though these events are regular, if irritability is the root cause of these problems and they cannot pinpoint why someone is irritable, a session with a counselor can help. The professional can identify and guide someone through techniques to solve or mitigate this problem.
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- Fatigue
Tiredness is a normal human response when someone does a task or an activity that is physically, emotionally, or mentally taxing. The average human body can recover from this exhaustion after a good rest.
However, some may encounter feelings of fatigue for no particular reason or experience tiredness that does not go away even after adequate rest. In this case, it could be a sign that someone's mental health is not in favorable condition. Fatigue can be caused by chronic stress or other factors that significantly affect someone's executive functions.
Counseling usually determines the cause of why a person may feel tired all the time and try approaches that can deal with these root causes and prevent fatigue from affecting the person's life and relationships.
- Sleep Problems
Sleep difficulties are usually caused directly by a negative mental health state. If someone has problems that they mull about over and over, or stress, grief, anxious feelings, depressive moods, and other factors— these may cause them to feel restless and race their thoughts, it could be a reason they physically cannot rest and go to sleep.
The lack of sleep can cause a web of problems that can even influence and cause other signs such as irritability, poor concentration, negative moods, fatigue, and others. It can also affect someone's physical health as having a poor night's sleep makes someone susceptible to illnesses.
Suppose the lack of sleep negatively affects other parts of someone's life and relationships. In that case, a counselor can provide tips and determine the root cause of the problem, allowing you to find ways to get good shut-eye at night.
- Aggression
Anger is a normal emotion as a response to an adverse event that someone may feel that the situation is unfair to them. This anger can manifest in different forms, such as physical or verbal. However, acts of aggression and intentionally hurting someone are not expected.
Still, they can be considered a sign that someone's mental health is not in a good state. Having a low threshold for tolerating events and triggers that can lead to aggression also calls for a mental health check. This aggressiveness can cause fights between people, especially in romantic relationships.
Verbal or physical aggressiveness done by someone to their partners should be moderated and resolved immediately. A counselor can be a couple's best shot at adequately addressing the problem and the underlying root causes of this.
Related: Is My Relationship Toxic?
- Lack Of Interest In Day-To-Day Activities
A regular person spends 16 hours daily dealing with responsibilities and tasks and maintaining relationships. Suppose a person tends to feel apathetic and lacks interest in the day-to-day activities which they usually do. In that case, it can signify that someone's mental health is not in the best state.
When someone derails from their usual routine or fails to show up on commitments they are supposed to do and attend to, a quick check on them and keeping these scenarios in mind is a good option.
Also, when someone shows disinterest in interacting with someone they are in a relationship with, including romantic ones, for no reason for quite some time, referring them to a counselor and presenting these observations can be a good idea.
The counselor can address why feelings of apathy and possible causes might be present and affecting one's mental health.
Conclusion
A person's mental health can affect not only themselves but their relationships, especially romantic ones, since they are closest to the person.
Psychological, biological, and social factors are all involved and should be considered in making a relationship work. It is also essential to watch out for signs that a person's mental health is not in the best condition and may affect their lives and romantic relationships. In many cases, referring them to a counselor can be the best action.
For most romantic relationships, taking care of each other's mental health is an essential factor that one can contribute to having a healthy relationship.
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