Where to Find Support to Deal With a Difficult Partner, Spouse or Family Member

It’s hard to be in a relationship with someone who is difficult. They may be overbearing, controlling, or just plain mean sometimes. It’s important to remember that there are many other people struggling with relationship difficulties. You don’t have to navigate these waters alone. There are resources out there to help people cope with interpersonal relationships and make them more manageable.

Where to find support

If you need emotional help after years of living with a demanding partner, parent, friend, or other individual, understand that your emotions are important too. It is essential to identify sources of support. The ideal support helps you to:

1. Analyze the situation
2. Identify the dynamics of the relationship
3. Recognize how you blame yourself and how it negatively affects your life
4. Understand the extent to which you are free of blame
5. Formulate a plan of action.

By adopting this plan of action, you will be ready to alter the soul-sucking behaviors directed towards you. It’s the best way to prevent death by a thousand cuts with this individual slowly chipping away at your confidence and well-being.

Below are some good emotional support sources:

Good friends who you trust.

If you have a set of old friends, maybe from childhood, high school or college, then these are the people to turn to first when you’re feeling emotionally vulnerable at the hands of a narcissist. They should be the kinds of friends who are willing to hear you speak your truth and yet not judge you nor the person with whom you’re having the relationship problems.

Online support groups.

Sometimes the best help comes from strangers on the internet. If your friends or family have been lucky enough to escape the grips of a selfish partner, family member or friend, then they’re likely not the ones to open up to when you need to vent and release your pain. Mostly it’s just because they really won’t be able to understand what you’re going through because they haven’t lived it.

In this case, joining a private support group, or signing up anonymously to speak on a relationship forum can be the perfect means of emotional support. Also, you’ll never have to worry that these types of friends are going to spill your secrets to that problematic person.

A counselor or coach.

While many health insurance plans cover well-being support, not all do. If you’re financially in a difficult position, then you will likely only have limited access to free

counseling. However, if you contact your local abuse hotline or speak to someone from your community who deals with family problems, you can likely get some sort of immediate emotional support that can help you through a difficult period.

There are also self-help solutions where you seek out support in the form of group coaching online, or downloadable e-guides and courses that are affordably priced to help you get clear on how to work on or end your relationship with the difficult person.

Conclusion

Being made to feel ‘inadequate’ or ‘bad’ is a form of emotional abuse. Emotions have a role in maintaining a healthy and healthy relationship. If you use your support resources to maintain your own happiness, you can more easily detach from a partner, parent, or friend. Emotional support helps to identify your wants and needs so that you can communicate them effectively. It also gives an outlet to deal with your anger and resentment. It can help you to be more assertive, and control your own behavior. And it can help you to decide if a relationship is worth salvaging and fighting for. Patience is key as you work through the process to find what works for you.