Posted by: Dr. Justin D'Arienzo, Psy.D., ABPP

Relationship Counseling in Jacksonville FL

Relationship Counseling by Doug Robinson, Psychology Masters Degree Candidate

D’Arienzo Psychological Group, experts in Relationship Counseling in Jacksonville FL

Relationship Counseling in Jacksonville  FL is available if you need assistance with a problematic relationship. Relationships are critical to our degree of happiness. We are always in some kind of relationship in one way or another. Relationships immediately impact our lives because they determine our ability to socially interact with other people. Relationships come in many different types and measures of importance. A relationship can be with your significant other, your mother or father, a sibling or a friend, a training instructor, a teacher, a co-worker, your boss, or even your grocery store bagger or doctor. These are all relationships that have a vital importance in our lives. How we manage our relationships are a decisive factor to our growth and well-being as individuals.

When our relationships flourish, our lives seem easier based on our inherent need to be socially accepted. Social acceptance is part of our DNA. We all want to fit in and to be a part of a group. However, when conflicts arise in a relationship, it causes anxiety and stress as we perceive a loss of acceptance. Sometimes it seems that our world is falling apart. Conflicts of interest can happen with any relationship and it is important how we deal with the conflict on a personal and intrapersonal level. A conflict can have the power to create stress and anxiety within us, and the more critical the relationship, the greater the anxiety that is produced. For example, conflicts with your mother, father, or with your spouse or significant other, or worse yet, with your boss leave you worried and stressed out.

In most cases it is not the conflict that causes the anxiety or stress levels but your very own emotions and feelings. If left unattended or unmanaged, these feelings can run rampant and cause major stress and anxiety even where there should be none. For example, as a child your father may have been absent in your life and you therefore lacked the masculine discipline that comes from a father who would typically be present. You now work for a boss who is a male, assertive and opinionated and he has made some comments to you that have caused anxiety in you to surge because you lack the skills to respond to this appropriately. In response you become defensive and isolative, not just to him, but to others as well.  You ask yourself why this impacts you and not others who deal with the same person and similar types of comments. This defensiveness and isolation is a behavior and a response of “fight, flight, or freeze” that occurs when we feel uncomfortable, fearful with a similar situation of the past. We are often unconsciously unaware of why we exhibit this type of response to these types of relationships. Have you noticed this pattern before? Are there other patterns similar to this in your relationships?

There are ways that you can manage and control your emotions within relationships and gain a better understanding to deal with conflicts by minimizing the triggers. Psychologists, therapist, life coaches and counselors can help you understand and change your problematic relationship behavior by examining the sculpture of each relationship and by helping you identify the invisible triggers that may cause conflict. Your psychologist, psychotherapist, life coach or counselor can help you with your internal dialogue and help you to maintain and manage better your emotional reaction in order to prevent the problematic relationship from getting the best of you. Your psychologist, counselor, psychotherapist, or life coach can help you identify what actually caused the “fight, flight, or freeze” syndrome in your life or any other particular relationship problematic pattern that needs to be changed or improved. The improved and changed behavior will cause a domino effect. Once you become aware of the change and new behavioral possibilities and actually alter your own behavioral response you will be amazed how other areas of your life are dramatically impacted for the better and the quality and happiness of your relationships improve.

Relationship counseling in Jacksonville FL is available at the D’Arienzo Psychological Group. DPG provides life coaching, psychotherapy, and counseling to assist you not only in your marital and intimate relationships but also in your relationships with coworkers, difficult bosses, family members, and friends that may be problematic and are in need of a change or improvement. We use Solution Focused Therapy (SFT) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)  so you feel better soon and  learn  to quickly change your behavioral. Get relationship counseling and relationship coaching today at DPG.