Is Communication Breakdown hurting your relationship
| What are the barriers to communication in relationships? |
Signs your relationship is suffering from communication breakdown.
Communication breakdown often occurs when protecting themselves from triggering emotions, by becoming defensive, reactive, stonewalling, blaming , criticising or shutting down. However, the triggering feelings are so painful, that they get projected on to the partner, who becomes blamed or accused, instead of getting in touch with how they feel, in order to express themselves in a way that gets heard.
- Communication problems occurs when couples do not express themselves, because they fear a reaction or fear not getting heard.
- When issues get ignored, they end up taking over the relationship
- A partner may assumes the other knows how they feel, rather than tell them. This often causes their partner to misunderstand them.
- Feeling dismissed or ignored for how one feels, can cause them to look outside the relationship for acceptance or understanding.
- Unexpressed needs or feelings can become acted upon, such as looking elsewhere for connection, by having marital affairs.
- Repressed anger can become acted out towards the partner, if concerns are not addressed. Many stop caring about the other or stop showing an interest in them.
- Bottling up emotions until they explode or come out the wrong way.
- Some force their view to get heard, but do not listen to how their partner feels.
- Feeling unheard leads to disengagement in the relationship and eventually detachment.
- Sometimes expressing hurt, in the heat of the moment, get’s received as nagging, attacking or criticizing.
- Partners who feel attacked during conflict, will attack back. So it feels unsafe to raise issues and easier to avoid them.
- Sometimes it is easier to seek support with someone else, rather than raise the issue with the partner who can hurt you. One cannot resolve issues if they step outside of the marriage to be consoled, by having an affair.
- Sometimes it’s easier to use alcohol or drugs to mask the things that upset you in your marriage, rather than resolve the issues with communication.
- Sometimes its easier to go along with others and let them make decisions; giving up ones ‘self’ in relationships means your needs do not get met.
- Avoiding the issues actually end up working against the relationship.
Learn how to repair from meltdowns in your relationship by dealing with emotional triggers
Seeking help enables couples to resolve the barriers in communicating while de-escalate conflict. so they can respond to each others needs and see each other more accurately. Getting help for relationships allows couples to re-structures how they relate, by establishing new ways for them interacting. By overcoming the defensive ways of communicating and getting in touch with how they feel, couples can relate in a more attuned way and resolve communication breakdown. Couples can then feel safe to open up to each other, and begin to resolve all kinds of issues that previously held them back.
Contact us for improving communication in your relationship
We help couples break through stuck communication patterns in order provide the secure holding to explore their felt experiences; while working through impasses, that causes breakdown in communication. Partners are invited to express themselves, while facilitated to understand each other, within the framework of the therapeutic encounter. These new responses shape new bonding moments. so the relationship feels more secure to discuss issues.
Contact us today
Use the enquiry form or call 0449 861 147 to book an appointment.