Emotional Support In Relationships
Couples counseling deals with many different kinds of relationships and the intricate patterns of communication, love and inter-dependence that couples share. One of the most fascinating aspects of emotional interdependence is the ways in which emotional support types can vary.
Emotional Support
When beginning couples counseling, many couples are confused about the difference between emotional support and emotional demands.
Emotional support in a relationship is critical to success. Emotional demands are detrimental to relationship health.
Emotional support involves accepting your partner’s differences and not insisting that they meet your needs when and how you want them to be met. For instance, if your partner enjoys sending you flowers as a way of saying “I love you,” you could be appreciative and happy about the gesture, even if you feel that the expense is unnecessary and that you many honestly prefer chocolate to flowers. Your partner is proving examples of emotional love and support. You can use that as an opportunity to love and give emotional support back, showing that you appreciate and understand they ways in which your partner loves you.
Emotional Demand
Emotional demands are emotionally selfish. Emotional Demands involve a no tolerance of love or support if it doesn’t meet strict guidelines. You allow your partner to fulfill a need in only the precise way you want them to. An example might include insisting that your partner spend all of his or her time with you, that they give up their friends or that you both hang around only your friends and more. When one partner makes the others feel guilty about spending time with their families, this too is an emotional demand and very draining on a relationship.
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