What Is The Best Way To Overcome Jealousy?
How can I deal with my jealousy?
While everyone gets jealous or suspicious from time to time, experiencing jealousy on a daily basis can be problematic.
When jealousy strikes, people often compare themselves to their rival, they feel threatened, and they imagine the worse case scenario—that their partner or spouse might leave them for someone else (see White & Mullen).
Not only is jealousy unpleasant to experience, but individuals, who are chronically jealous or suspicious, often misinterpret what is going on—taking what might be an innocent event and thinking about it in the worst way possible.
For example, if a boyfriend or girlfriend does not immediately return a phone
call, a highly jealous individual will jump to a negative conclusion (my partner doesn’t love me or my partner is cheating).
Jumping to such conclusions can drive people crazy and it often fuels their suspicion more (Pfeiffer and Wong, Salovey and Rodin).
Negative thoughts, doubts, and insecurities often lead to more negative thoughts, doubts, and insecurities.
Not only do highly jealous individuals drive themselves crazy, they often drive their partners crazy as well. Being around a suspicious person is difficult to deal with. No one likes to have everything that happens turned into a negative event.
Moreover, being with a jealous person is difficult because highly suspicious partners can be overly controlling, needy, and invasive (also see anxious attachment).
As such, it is not uncommon for people who date highly suspicious individuals to pull away from their partners because of all the problems that it causes.
Learning how to deal with jealousy effectively is critical to maintaining a healthy relationship.
On the pages that follow, we offer some specific advice for dealing with jealousy.
- talk about your insecurities
- try to think about events differently
- last resort – try to erase doubts
Or using the link on the right will take you through each page of this section....
