The Naked Truth | How to stop jealousy from destroying your relationship
- A clinical psychologist reveals ways to avoid becoming a jealous partner and the reasons why you suffer from the green-eyed monster in the first place
- Jealousy is a normal human emotion that can be easily resolved, but a lack of self-esteem and poor self-image can increase its power over you
It is natural for us to feel a little jealous in a relationship sometimes, but it’s important to get a hold on it and not let a twinge of jealousy blow out of proportion and consume us.
People sometimes think jealousy is a way to show a partner that they are desired or cared for, but more often than not, jealousy is driven by poor self-image, a lack of trust or other underlying relationship problems.
Occasionally, it could spice up mundane routines, arouse your feelings and add a bit of excitement to your relationship, but only if it doesn’t get out of hand and become destructive.
First and foremost, we need to understand the underlying causes of jealousy in a relationship. According to clinical psychologist Dr Monica Borschel, jealousy could be a false or real alarm.
“A false alarm might look like low self-worth or attachment anxiety in the jealous partner. Attachment anxiety is a deep feeling that the person you love won’t be there for you when you need them.
“A real alarm for the jealous partner might be one of the following: your partner devalues you, isolates you, tries to control you, is cheating or has cheated on you. When a relationship doesn’t feel secure to both partners, jealousy can happen.”