Help for jealousy
Relationships are never easy and even the best ones require a lot of work. But there's one thing that can tear a relationship apart faster than anything else: jealousy. It can affect everyone from time to time but if it starts to rule the mind and influence decisions, it can eat away at the happiness and trust that makes a successful friendship or love. It's important to get help for jealousy before it has the chance to do too much damage to a relationship.
How do you get past jealousy? Like so many things, it's easier said than done. Like fear, anxiety, or negativity, jealous thinking can quickly become a thought pattern that you fall into and that is difficult to stop. Identifying the root fear that fuels these feelings is important to fighting it but this can be difficult for one person to do alone.
Many people find that talking to another person about their feelings of jealousy can be a big help to putting them into perspective. Whether this person is a friend, lover, family member, or a professional therapist or counselor another view of the situation you find yourself in is often just what is needed to quash those feelings of worry.
Remember that jealousy is a feeling, just like any other, and when you feel it you can choose how you react to it. A jealous thought is not the same as a jealous action (pouting, the silent treatment, withholding sex) and not performing those actions is an excellent first step in breaking the thought and behavior patterns that jealousy can create in us.
Jealous thoughts are not necessarily the same as reality. This emotion can cause us to see only the most negative possibilities and outcomes instead of the true ones. Just because you think your partner might be looking at other people because he or she no longer finds you attractive, take a moment to breathe and realize that maybe he is just looking at people because they are interesting.
There's no shortcut or easy way when it comes to how to overcome jealousy. For many people, fighting off these negative thoughts and emotions might be too much to do on their own and there's no reason not to get help for jealousy. Whether it's from a trusted friend or a professional, another person may be able to help you break the negative patterns that jealousy has created.