Learning to Manage Disagreement in Relationships: Part II

Georgia Premarital Education Program Online Course, $20.00 per Couple

Learning to Manage Disagreement in Relationships: Part II

November 17, 2022 Georgia Premarital Counseling Georgia Premarital Program Announcements and News 0
Take our Official Georgia Premarital Preparation Course for $17.97 and save money on your Georgia marriage license! We here at D’Arienzo Psychology are excited to help you take this next step toward marital happiness and success, and want to help deepen your relationship with your future spouse.  Last week we explored Criticism, the first of the four horsemen to be aware of when learning how to manage dispute in marriage. Check out Part II of what we have to say about Managing Disagreement and marriage below:

Stonewalling

The second of the four horsemen, stonewalling is just as it sounds. When learning to manage disagreement in marriage, it is important to understand that stonewalling is an avoidance or refusal to address or communicate about an issue or conflict. To the other partner, stonewalling often feels as though they are “talking to a brick wall”. In his research, Dr. Gottman found that 85 percent of men used stonewalling as a way of dealing with conflict, yet they did not realize that this was a very destructive strategy. Men often use a distancing technique to cope with high levels of emotion.  Remember that withdrawing from an argument does not solve it and “parallel living” has been found to be a consequence of this behavior over the longer term. Parallel living leads to a pulling away from a relationship, leaving it vulnerable to outside forces. Stonewalling also leads to increased conflict and major melt downs when the non-stonewaller begins to chase the stonewaller about an issue. At some point, the stonewaller lashes out in anger, which frequently results in the pair having an unfortunate occurrence. Following are some countermeasures to stonewalling: Avoid the need to emotionally distance yourself from your mate. Find the good in one another. Allow yourself to have happy experiences. Even if it’s simply a nod or a brief remark, don’t neglect your spouse and respond in some way. Additionally, it’s critical to take care of yourself in order to avoid stonewalling. Because we fear conflict, we frequently put up walls. Conflict causes anxiety for many of us. In order to better manage the anxiety of dealing with difficult issues, it is important to practice good self care like getting a good night sleep, exercising frequently, and maintaining a healthy diet. Avoidance is okay in a relationship as long as you are avoiding stonewalling.

Stay tuned to learn about the other two horseman: defensiveness and contempt.

Taking a premarital education course is vital for equipped couples to share a lifetime of marital bliss and happiness. D’Arienzo Psychology wants to help you prepare for your life together. Dr. Justin D’Arienzo is our Board-Certified Clinical Psychologist and Relationship Expert. Dr. D’Arienzo has serviced this course to couples since 2013. Hundreds of couples recommend our course and claim that it has helped set a solid foundation for marital success. Research suggests that couples who take a premarital preparation course gain an advantage over couples that do not take a premarital preparation course. Dr. D’Arienzo wanted to develop a fully efficient, online, fully automated, fun premarital course that teaches couples how to work together. Dr. D’Arienzo has perfected all of our exercises and information to ensure that couples gain the knowledge they need.  He also offers this course to couples planning on tying the knot in Florida, Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, South Carolina, Oklahoma, and Minnesota. Do you want to lead a happy marriage that lasts a lifetime? Do you want to have fun and gain inside knowledge about marriage from a leading psychologist? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then our Georgia Online Premarital Education Course is right for you! You can learn more about our Georgia Online Premarital Preparation Course Here.

 

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