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Old Apr 04, 2019, 12:07 PM
Anonymous48672
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cgoffredo View Post
A couple months after I met my boyfriend (now husband) I started getting really jealous when he went out with his bestest friend. I am seeing a therapist but I feel crazy because he went out this Saturday to the beach with him (we had plans for the beach but we fought and he decided to go with his bestfriend instead). I made plans for the beach too but the whole time I was thinking about my husband, what he was doing, I was just constantly (and when I mean constantly I mean constantly) thinking about him and very anxious and annoyed At the fact that he’s at the beach with him and not with me. When he got home I was very annoyed/mad and just so you guys know we are together 24/7. I get very jealous when he’s with his guy best friend. He goes to him when we are fighting and I feel like i am in a competition for my husband. I know I sound crazy. Idk what to do in those moments. I trust my husband in the sense that he’s a good guy and truly trust him but I get overwhelmed with jealousy over his guy bestfriend.
While it wasn't nice of your husband to break his plans with you so he could spend it with his best friend, I think this is indicative of a dysfunctional attachment style that you have with your husband.

Here are the 4 styles of attachment styles:
  • Secure – autonomous
  • Avoidant – dismissing
  • Anxious – preoccupied
  • Disorganized – unresolved

Secure: Low on avoidance, low on anxiety. Comfortable with intimacy; not worried about rejection or preoccupied with the relationship. “It is easy for me to get close to others, and I am comfortable depending on them and having them depend on me. I don’t worry about being abandoned or about someone getting too close to me.”

Avoidant: High on avoidance, low on anxiety. Uncomfortable with closeness and primarily values independence and freedom; not worried about partner’s availability. “I am uncomfortable being close to others. I find it difficult to trust and depend on others and prefer that others do not depend on me. It is very important that I feel independent and self-sufficient. My partner wants me to be more intimate than I am comfortable being.”

Anxious: Low on avoidance, high on anxiety. Crave closeness and intimacy, very insecure about the relationship. “I want to be extremely emotionally close (merge) with others, but others are reluctant to get as close as I would like. I often worry that my partner doesn’t love or value me and will abandon me. My inordinate need for closeness scares people away.

Anxious and Avoidant: High on avoidance, high on anxiety. Uncomfortable with intimacy, and worried about partner’s commitment and love. “I am uncomfortable getting close to others, and find it difficult to trust and depend on them. I worry I will be hurt if I get close to my partner.”

I'm not a therapist, but I think you probably suffer from the Anxious and Avoidant detachment style of relating to your husband. You can't let him out of your sight. And if he goes out with anyone else but you, you obsess about what he's doing all the time. That is not healthy behavior.

Preoccupied (Anxious) Detachment Style traits:
  • Insecure in intimate relationships; constantly worried about rejection and abandonment; preoccupied with relationship; “hyperactivates” attachment needs and behavior.
  • Needy; requires ongoing reassurance; want to “merge” with partner, which scares partner away.
  • Ruminates about unresolved past issues from family-of-origin, which intrudes into present perceptions and relationships (fear, hurt, anger, rejection).
  • Overly sensitive to partner’s actions and moods; takes partner’s behavior too personally.
  • Highly emotional; can be argumentative, combative, angry and controlling; poor personal boundaries.
  • Communication is not collaborative; unaware of own responsibility in relationship issues; blames others.
  • Unpredictable and moody; connects through conflict, “stirs the pot.”
  • Inconsistent attunement with own children, who are likely to be anxiously attached.

You shouldn't be jealous of the time he spends with his best friend. He may have canceled plans with you b/c you don't give him any space and you smother him and isolate him from socializing with other people. That is definitely not healthy or good for either of you, if you do that to your husband. I don't know if that's what you do, but if it is, you need to stop doing that.

The fact that he's avoiding plans with you since you said you spend 24/7 with him, is probably because he feels like you won't let him have his own social life. Is that accurate? Do you allow him to go out with his best friend or other friends without berating him about it? You can't control who your husband is friends with, or control any part of his life.

Do you have any friends of your own? If you give your husband space, and spend time with your friends do you bombard your husband via text, SMS, or social media while you're away from him? Or do you give him mental space to miss you?

It really sounds like you're in an unhealthy attachment style, the way you smother your husband by spending so much time with him, and then react by getting angry when he wants to spend time with his best friend instead of you. He has every right to spend time with other people, and not just you.

I urge you to explore your attachment style issues and to explore codependency because it sure sounds like that may be what you suffer from.

Quote:
Originally Posted by sarahsweets View Post
It isnt nice that he broke plans but at the same time it sounds a little like codependency. What does your therapist say?
I agree with sarahsweets observation that you may suffer from codependency, which is something you should mention to your therapist at your next counseling session.

Individuals who are codependent typically have:
  • Great self-consciousness (chronic tendency to focus attention on oneself)
  • Social anxiety (the extent to which people feel uncomfortable and nervous in social situations)
  • Dysfunctional attachment styles (avoidant and anxious attachment styles)
  • Codependency is associated with decreased feelings of connectedness with a spouse and increased feelings of competitiveness with a spouse.
Codependency in Marriage: What It Is and What To Do About It - OnlyYouForever

Last edited by Anonymous48672; Apr 04, 2019 at 12:41 PM.
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