bman
01-04-2016, 12:16 PM
Hi all,
My girlfriend and I recently got engaged.
My fiance has suffered with anxiety for the last 15 years or so (she is 28).
This manifested in some anxiety around travelling (ie flying) and refusing to take medication. She has vastly improved while we have been together, but she still has relapses.
Since we got engaged, she is having a difficult time letting herself be happy. She is worrying a lot about what would happen if I got fed up with her and left her. This is causing her to ask a lot of questions about "making sure she's not wearing me out".
I have got pretty good at breaking the cycle by asking her questions which are just as ludicrous, like "what if you fall in love with a martian and leave me??". She told me to do this when we first got together and it helps her "snap out of it" for a bit. This isn't working as well as it used to.
Does anyone have any advice of other things I can do to help her?
I genuinely am not bothered by her anxiety and would never leave her for it, but how can I put her mind at rest without answering her questions constantly? She has told me if I just keep answering, it doesn't break the cycle and she becomes insatiable for more answers.
Any advice is welcomed!
My girlfriend and I recently got engaged.
My fiance has suffered with anxiety for the last 15 years or so (she is 28).
This manifested in some anxiety around travelling (ie flying) and refusing to take medication. She has vastly improved while we have been together, but she still has relapses.
Since we got engaged, she is having a difficult time letting herself be happy. She is worrying a lot about what would happen if I got fed up with her and left her. This is causing her to ask a lot of questions about "making sure she's not wearing me out".
I have got pretty good at breaking the cycle by asking her questions which are just as ludicrous, like "what if you fall in love with a martian and leave me??". She told me to do this when we first got together and it helps her "snap out of it" for a bit. This isn't working as well as it used to.
Does anyone have any advice of other things I can do to help her?
I genuinely am not bothered by her anxiety and would never leave her for it, but how can I put her mind at rest without answering her questions constantly? She has told me if I just keep answering, it doesn't break the cycle and she becomes insatiable for more answers.
Any advice is welcomed!