How to Deal with a Spouse Who Can’t Handle Conflict

You may change the subject every time your partner brings up a contentious topic. You might endure highly uncomfortable situations because you don’t want to speak up and rock the boat. Maintaining the status quo is what you know, it’s where you feel safe. Relationship conflict refers to a disagreement, argument, or debate that takes place between two people within a relationship.

She takes it as an attack when I’m not intending it to be. I know she’s been having emotional problems and her medicine isn’t working, but I hate when she makes that sound like an excuse. At its core, conflict avoidance is people pleasing due to a deeply ingrained fear of hurting or upsetting other people if you express your true feelings. This type of codependency leads to feelings of resentment and loneliness and ultimately hurts you and your relationships. Whether you’ve got a partner who’s conflict avoidant or you’re dealing with your own conflict avoidance, I’ll walk you through my best tips for dealing with it. In a healthy relationship, you and your partner can communicate openly about what is bothering you and what is going well in the relationship.

Don’t generalize behaviors

He thinks psychology is a joke and doesn’t understand that it is real and works. Wish there were more articles out there with advice for how to have a decent marriage when your husband has zero interest in emotional connection with you. Being vulnerable in front of my husband absolutely does NOT make him more willing to show softer feelings towards me.

The more you avoid conflict, the less heard and understood you begin to feel. You might begin to believe that your relationship is lacking meaningful connection. The more distant you feel, the more distance can build. When you do not feel safe sharing things with your partner, you could start to feel lonely. You could keep things bottled up so it doesn’t lead to conflict. The fear of facing conflict and being vulnerable in your relationship can actually increase feelings of loneliness. When you don’t talk to your partner about what is bothering you, it can be difficult to talk in general.

What is conflict avoidance a symptom of?

Then, if our partner tries to move beyond that pattern, we may respond with confusion and anger. We’re conditioned to see arguing as a terrible sign for your relationship. As a result, a lot of couples outright avoid conflict. Chances are, it was a mistake that your partner already feels badly about, so don’t make them feel worse.

• Even if you are positive that you’ve heard all their complaints before, listen with compassion to resolve marriage conflict effectively.
• The same reaction only occurs in women who have highly avoidant personalities.
• Instead of focusing on things that make you happy in life, negative thoughts and emotions consume your energy.
• Patterns are identified and new approaches are explored.

For others, it may be passive-aggressive manipulations. These types of outbursts can be hurtful and will damage your relationships with others, as well as your partner.

What To Do About Stress in Your Relationship

Recently, his divorce is finalizing and it seems the paperwork overwhelmed him. He shut down, stopped going to work, but this time, stopped talking to me as well. I panicked and went through every stage of emotions you can.

To relieve some of the stress you feel in your relationship, make sure to take self-care days. Honestly, there is nothing wrong with disagreeing with your partner or your partner disagreeing with you. The key lies not in avoiding conflict but rather in developing healthy ways to resolve your differences. We have all faced individuals who dig their heels in and won’t budge.

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It’s a strategy that helps you open your mindset to a new point of view, a new angle on what’s happening so you can think differently about it. So, if you started thinking differently about voicing your opinion and seeing it as a positive how to deal with someone who avoids conflict thing with a positive outcome, you’d be much more likely to do it and stop avoiding. No matter the start to life, as adults conflict avoiders end up feeling that sharing their opinions, thoughts and feelings is scary and not worth it.

If my hunch is not right, and it’s just hard for you to work through conflict together productively, it may be helpful for you guys to get involved in some couples counseling together. My hope for you is that she may be able to learn some strategies to communicate her feelings in a more constructive and less agressive way that will enable you to respond to them. I want you to know that if anyone you’re involved with is demanding you to be inhumanly perfect in order to be in a relationship with you, that is not okay. You are a human being, with needs, rights and feelings, not a robot. If she cannot tolerate your humanity, she may not be in a space where she is able to have a relationship with anyone right now. It’s so hard when you connect with someone who is legitimately not emotionally available, but I fear that may be true in your case.