When it comes to emotions, love is one of the most powerful feelings that a person can have. There are many different types of love, but many individuals seek its manifestation in a romantic relationship with a person who is compatible with their own values and interests (or partners). For these people, romantic relationships are one of the most important parts of their lives, and they are a source of great pleasure.
However, although the need for human connection seems to be inherent, the capacity to establish healthy, loving relationships is something that can be developed. According to some research, the capacity to establish a stable connection begins to develop in infancy, during a child’s first encounters with a caregiver who consistently fulfills the infant’s requirements for food, care, warmth, safety, stimulation, and social contact begins to develop. Despite the fact that such connections are not predestined, it is believed that they may lead to profoundly entrenched habits of connecting to people in the future. Despite this, the termination of a relationship is often accompanied by intense psychological distress.
How to Develop a Positive Relationship.
Constant attention and communication are required to keep a good relationship going, and research has shown that some characteristics are particularly beneficial for maintaining successful partnerships. For starters, each people should have confidence in their partner’s willingness to give time and attention to the other person’s needs. Additionally, they must both be dedicated to working together to accommodate their differences, even as those differences evolve with time.
When it comes to partnerships in the twenty-first century, emotional and physical fairness are usually observed, especially in the division of domestic tasks that are required to keep a family running smoothly. Affection is freely given and received in healthy relationships, and partners in healthy relationships have open conversations about sex with one another.
In healthy relationships, partners make an effort to give their spouse the benefit of the doubt, which fosters a feeling of being on the same page. When this emotion is maintained throughout time, it may assist couples in overcoming the difficulties they will undoubtedly encounter together.
Discovering Your Soulmate
A life partner with whom to live a life is an exhilarating, if not always straightforward, experience. Regardless of whether the search is done online or in person, it is probable that an individual will be forced into new environments in order to meet prospective companions. Going beyond of one’s comfort zone is frequently required in order to be successful.
Although it may be difficult to determine if a particular individual is appropriate as a prospective mate, and whether an attraction is a result of transitory infatuation or genuine love, studies have shown that some behaviors can provide useful indications.
One indication of a possible match that may seem paradoxical is one’s own feeling of self or sense of belonging.
Those seeking a healthy relationship with someone may encourage their prospective partner to try new hobbies or believe in new ideas that will help them to grow as individuals. One other possible early indicator is stress: repeatedly engaging with someone whose impression we hold in high regard may increase our level of anxiousness. Additionally, being extremely driven to see the person and spending a considerable amount of time, emotion, and energy into the developing connection are both good signs.
Reasons for the Failure of Relationships
Almost every relationship requires at least one partner to take a significant risk. Even amongst the happiest of marriages, the very characteristics that initially drew people together may ultimately become annoyances that cause them to drift away from one another. It takes time and effort to develop the skills necessary to maintain a relationship, and dangers may arise at any time. Even if neither party sees a genuinely feasible long-term future with the other, in short-term, casual relationships, just one takes action, in some instances ghosting the other and disappearing from their lives without even exchanging text messages.
For some couples, infidelity is both the first and the last straw, but a surprising number of relationships survive betrayal, some only to have their connection upended by everyday threats such as a loss of interest in physical intimacy or a waning of positive feelings in the wake of constant criticism, contempt, or defensiveness from the other partner. There is no assurance that a couple will remain attached even if they have been together for decades.
Couples over 50 have seen a doubling in the divorce rate since 1990.
Others are able to walk away from a long-term relationship with no sense of guilt. Others may suffer from emotional trauma that lasts for years after the termination of a relationship that lasted just a few dates. Whatever the circumstances of a breakup, it may be a significant stressor with long-lasting consequences on one’s ego and self-esteem that cannot be disregarded.
Relationships are possible for those who are nervous or anxious.
Numerous relationship difficulties may be caused by depression rather than worry.
It is the subject of a recent study paper published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, which investigates the effect that social anxiety may have on one’s capacity to maintain a good love relationship.
As a consequence of the findings, although socially nervous individuals are more likely to struggle with romance, it is possible that this is due to reasons other than their anxiety, such as depression or other psychiatric problems.
Researchers headed by Christian Hahn of the Nova Scotia Health Authority found that “socially nervous individuals are less likely to marry and more likely to divorce” than their non-anxious counterparts. Although a small percentage of people with social anxiety are able to sustain good romantic relationships, little is known about how social anxiety may be linked with the characteristics that allow for the effective maintenance of romantic relationships.
An online study was conducted to get a better understanding of how social anxiety affects romantic relationships. The researchers invited 888 people who were presently in monogamous relationships to participate in order to gain a better understanding of this phenomenon. Six psychological scales were administered by the researchers in this study, which included the following:
With questions such as “How well does your spouse fulfill your needs?” the Relationship Assessment Scale (RAS) measures relationship satisfaction in a seven-item self-report manner. 0 = not at all, 7 = very well
Individuals’ degree of discomfort while interacting with others is assessed using the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale, which consists of 19 items. All questions are evaluated on a scale of zero to four, with zero indicating no concern and four indicating severe concern about poor social performance and unfavorable evaluations in social interactions (e.g., “I am nervous mingling in a group”).
Zung’s own admission In the Depression Scale, items such as “I feel downhearted and blue” are rated from one to four on a scale of one to four (one being a little of the time, four being most of the time) and are rated on a scale of one to four (four being most of the time).
An 8-item measure of trust in a romantic relationship, defined as one’s confidence in a partner’s honesty, good intentions, and kindness, is known as the Dyadic Trust Scale (e.g., “I feel that I can trust my partner completely”).
In stressful circumstances, an individual’s impression of the availability of social support is assessed using the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List, which is a 40-item measure (e.g., “There is no one that I feel comfortable to talking about intimate personal problems”).
An expanded version of the Investment Model Scale assessing perceptions of social support during stressful situations, the Commitment Scale has 15 items.
According to the findings, both social anxiety and depression were associated with poorer levels of relationship satisfaction, social support, and dyadic trust between partners.
In previous study, the researchers discovered both negative and non-significant relationships between social anxiety and relationship satisfaction. A steady and negative connection between social anxiety and relationship satisfaction was found in this study, which is consistent with the findings of previous research.
However, there’s more to the tale than meets the eye at first glance. A propensity for socially anxious individuals to show a greater level of commitment in their relationships was discovered, among other things, by the study’s authors.
According to the researchers, “no previous study has examined the relationship between social anxiety and devotion.” “The […] strong positive relationship between social anxiety and commitment shown in the current research is consistent with current understandings of social anxiety. The desire for closeness in relationships persists despite the fact that social anxiety is linked with intimacy-impairing behaviors (such as decreased self-disclosure).”
It is conceivable that individuals who are socially anxious have more desire to stay committed in a romantic relationship, even if they do not always participate in intimacy-promoting activities that help the relationship last longer.
They also looked at the relationship between social anxiety and relationship happiness, as well as the relationship between social anxiety and co-morbid depression, which they discovered was a strong link.
The results, according to Hahn, were “very intriguing.” “Even when we focus on only social anxiety, we find that it is associated with a slew of problems in romantic relationships, including decreased relationship satisfaction, decreased trust, and a perceived lack of social support. Many of the connections between social anxiety and relationship factors are no longer significant when depression is taken into consideration. It seems that social anxiety is less essential to relationship well-being than co-morbid depression, which is a surprising finding.”
It is hoped that the results of the study may assist doctors in the development of improved therapies for social anxiety in the future, said the researchers.
As the authors point out, “the current research may improve clinical understanding of the experiences that socially anxious individuals have in their romantic relationships, particularly when these individuals also have co-morbid depression, as well as of the psychological factors that cause different observed relational difficulties.” The researchers also discovered that effective treatment of depression has a higher potential to favorably influence relationship well-being than successful treatment of social anxiety, although they stressed that more study is required in this particular area.
