Relationships

[bluekangaroo]

Hello.. new to this site so not quite sure how this works..
I'm not personally suffering from an anxiety disorder, but i am in a relationship with someone who is. I never went into this relationship believing that things would always run totally smoothly, but for the past couple of months i'd been feeling that things were going really well.. however yesterday i found that my partner no longer wants to share a bed with me as i've been making him feel even more anxious. This had never been a problem before, and as far as i was aware he'd been sleeping right through the night with no problems with panic attacks etc. I'm not quite sure how to handle this, i'm extremely upset and yet i really want to support him. Can anyone give me any advice about how to support a partner with an anxiety disorder? Do you think that i'm right to let him stop me sharing a bed with him? I feel that to some extent he is letting the anxiety take over rather than fighting it.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be extremely greatful. Thank you.

[lfused]

While I'm not all that familiar with treatment of anxiety. Talking usually helps with most problems. Ask him if there's a specific reason why he doesn't want to sleep together anymore or if he has any concerns. It might be the case that he might feel uncomfortable about a sleeping habit such as snoring.

Try not to take it personally. Speaking from experience, sometimes anxiety takes you by surprise and it has nothing to do about any particular person. Stress in general can make things worse, so if he hasn't been sleeping properly for a while then it's probably going to be difficult for him to try again so soon. Just give him a bit of time and let him know that you enjoy his company.

I'm not sure if that was helpful but I hope things work out between the two of you.