How to Help a Partner Through New Mental Health Conditions

Take Care of Yourself

It may sound selfish to place this tip at the top of the list, but it’s there for a reason. Tending to your own physical, emotional, and social needs is vital for maintaining your own mental health. The stronger you are, the better able you will be to support your spouse or partner.

Rely on strategies such as physical exercise, social support, and good nutrition. Learn stress management techniques such as deep breathing, practicing mindfulness, and good sleep hygiene if you haven’t already. Consider finding an online support group or a therapist to help you as you determine how best to help your partner.

Caring properly for yourself may feel more difficult due to the demands of the pandemic, of course. This is why it’s all the more critical to be mindful of your own needs and find ways to address them.

Educate Yourself

Knowledge is a powerful thing. The more you know about what your partner is going through right now, the more you’ll understand it. And the more you understand it, the better prepared you’ll be to support them as they face new mental health conditions.

Facing the symptoms of depression, anxiety, or addiction can be confusing for both of you. This response is true whether your spouse is newly experiencing them or if they’ve been around for some time. Encourage your partner to join you and learn together. Many sources exist to provide education and guidance for couples where one partner is struggling with mental health.

Be Compassionate

Few things can hurt a person who’s living with anxiety, depression, or addiction more than feeling judged or put down. These conditions typically make someone feel ashamed as it is. Being impatient with them, telling them to snap out of it, or blaming them for their condition only makes it worse.

Of course, you are probably suffering yourself. You hate to see your partner living with emotional pain. You yearn for your life together to be back to normal, instead of stuck in a valley. Frustration may threaten to overwhelm your response to your partner.

But compassion, a loving response, and empathy go much further than a negative response to them. When you find your patience thinning, take a deep breath and try to find time alone to reset your thoughts.

Practical Help

Remember to ask your partner how you can best help them during this time. They may not know, but perhaps there are small things that would mean a lot to them.

It’s essential to make sure your partner is getting the mental health resources they need. Counseling and medical care are chief among these. Likewise, couples counseling is also a crucial part of this process.

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An experienced therapist can help both of you as you face new mental health conditions. In our practice, we have worked with many couples whose mental health has been impacted by the pandemic. Together, we can help both of you move toward a healthier future.