How To Deal With A Fear Of Intimacy

If you’re struggling with a fear of intimacy and worry about being rejected or abandoned, you’re not alone. Learn how to overcome your fear by analyzing the roots of your anxiety, practicing self-compassion, and seeking help from a mental health professional if needed. Discover the reasons behind your fear and realize it’s not your fault by exploring past traumatic experiences. Research shows that self-compassion can weaken the fear of intimacy by allowing you to give love to yourself, making it easier to let others love you as well. Remember, there is no shame in seeking help from a mental health professional to overcome this fear in a safe and comforting setting.

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Writer: Stela Košić
Script Manager: Kelly Soong
Voice: Amanda Silvera (www.youtube.com/amandasilvera)
Animator: Zuzia
YouTube Manager: Cindy Cheong

References:

ChoosingTherapy.com. (2022, September 30). Fear of Intimacy: Causes, Getting Help, & Ways To Cope. Choosing Therapy. Retrieved October 6, 2022, from

Dupasquier, J.R., Kelly, A.C., Moscovitch, D.A. et al. Practicing Self-Compassion Weakens the Relationship Between Fear of Receiving Compassion and the Desire to Conceal Negative Experiences from Others. Mindfulness 9, 500–511 (2018).

Simon, V. A., & Cleland, C. M. (2009, February). Childhood sexual abuse, stigmatization, internalizing symptoms, and the development of sexual difficulties and dating aggression. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77(1), 127–137.

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Easy Exercises That You Can Practice To Prevent Stress

Stress can take a unacceptable toll on our physiological, as well as, our mental health. The problem could originate at our workplace or in our home. By following the suggestions delineated in this article, that point of origination can be discerned and a plan of attack initiated that will make stress, a thing of the past.

If you are around family for most of the day, try to hug them as often as possible. This will make you feel at peace with the people that you care for the most, which will reduce your level of anxiety. Show affection towards the ones you love to eliminate stress.

Make sure you’re not taking too much on. If you’re feeling stressed, particularly at work, it could be because you’re trying to take on too much work at once. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. If you’re not able to handle your work load, let your boss know. Often, your boss will be more than happy to help you out or help you to find someone who can.

Try seeking out humor to relieve your stress. Whether it’s reading jokes on the internet, watching a funny movie, or going to see a comedian, getting a dose of humor in your life can really help reduce the amount of stress. It’s been shown that if you laugh often, you won’t be as stressed out.

A great and simple way to reduce your stress level is to take a break, even if it’s just a minute or two. By stepping away from a stressful situation, you are allowing yourself to rejuvenate and recover for a few short minutes. By letting your body relax and your stress hormones to reduce, you are giving yourself a fresh start at the project at hand. With a new perspective after your small break, you might find that the task at hand isn’t as stressful as it first seemed.

Smile your way to being stress free. Smiling shows that your are happy. But did you know that smiling can also make you feel happy and relaxed. When you smile you transmit nerve impulses from your face muscle to the center of the brain that tells you that you are calm. If you are feeling overwhelmed or stressed take a minute to smile.

If you have been eating a lot of junk food lately, you should try cooking a healthy meal or eating a salad. This will help to refresh your body so that you can feel better when you wake up in the morning. Reducing the fat content in your body will help your stress.

A great tip that can help you beat stress is to head outside and go for a hike. Going for a hike can be amazing at keeping stress down because it allows you to enjoy the soothing sights, sounds and smells of nature. You’ll also be getting some exercise which will help a lot as well.

To identify hidden sources of stress in your life, start keeping a stress journal. Each time you find yourself feeling stressed out, make a note of it in your journal. Record what happened, how it made you feel and how you responded to the stressful event or situation. This will allow you to spot patterns of stress over time so you can develop an effective long term stress management plan.

Drinking tea is a good way to relax and relive stress. There are a number of teas which help reduce stress, including chamomile and kava kava. To make tea strong and get all of its benefits, let them steep for a full ten minutes. The best time to drink stress-reducing teas is right when you get up or right before you go to bed.

If you’re finding yourself under a lot of stress often, try scheduling your day. If you plan your day out, you won’t have to worry about trying to figure out what do next. Or if you’re already doing this and are still stressed, do the opposite and try and wing it each day. Find the right medium between scheduling and winging it that works for you.

In order to reduce stress in your life, avoid bottling up your feelings. Instead, say what is on your mind in a caring and respectful way so that people know how your are feeling. Keeping your feelings to yourself can often lead to resentment and anger, whereas open communication can help you find solutions to even the most complex problems and situations.

Concentrate on your breathing when stressful situations arise. Take a moment by yourself to count out ten deep breaths before trying to tackle the issue at hand. Doing so can change your outlook, making you seem more professional and put-together, with less of a harried and stressed appearance.

Schedule time each day to worry over certain items and let them go at all other times. Not every stressor in your life needs immediate attention and constant energy. Compartmentalize your thinking on these specific stressors to a certain, finite time each day. Then during the remainder of your day, let them go. By doing so, you’ll find that you are less stressed overall.

Take some time to learn about self hypnosis. It can work quite well for many people to help them cope with an unbearable amount of every day stress. If you find the right guide to this technique, you will likely feel that you are living a much more tranquil life and are far more relaxed.

A great tip that can help you keep your stress down is to invest in a day planner. Day planners are great to have because they allow you to write down important details that you might forget. You’ll be much better organized and your stress levels will go down.

When it begins to adversely impact our psychological and physiological health, stress is simply not an acceptable component of our lives. We must work to determine precisely what is causing the stress and to identify measures that we can implement to address it. Our lives will be all the better when stress is no longer a major problem.