As the coronavirus pandemic continues to strain relationships, unearthing unresolved issues and weighing couples down with health and financial worries, it also pushed more couples to seek help and address mental health issues, according to counsellor Matthew Bartolo.

“Over the past year, those couples who had to seek help, did so. Some decided not to be together. Others worked on their relationships and grew stronger,” he said.

“There was also a rise in couples seeking mental health support, either for themselves or to be able to support their partner. Some mental health issues were brought about by the sudden lack of distractions, such as social activities. These events, which distracted people from their inner demons, were no longer there, forcing them to face their demons,” Bartolo continued.

When the pandemic broke out in March 2020, various measures kicked in to limit the spread. These included the closure of schools and non-essential shops, driving many people to work from home until measures were lifted over summer. At the time, family lawyers told Times of Malta they started seeing an increase in people seeking their advice on marriage breakdowns.

Since then, a lot has changed. Measures were tightened again, before being relaxed one more with the vaccine roll-out. As people returned to work and businesses resumed operation, the world as we knew it pre-COVID slowly started returning to some semblance of normality. But what remains, apart from social distancing and mask-wearing restrictions, is a feeling of looming uncertainty.

This uncertainty, Bartolo, a counsellor specialising in sex and relationships, noted, continues to stress couples, especially the young ones where planning for a future together is an important part of them moving forward as a couple.

New couples also faced another challenge: learning how to be together in the real world.

“There were a lot of new couples who started dating during the pandemic, when they spent time alone together or with, at most, another couple. Now that they started going out together for the first time, some are struggling with jealousy. They are realising that there is another level to their relationship and some are struggling to adapt to that,” he said.

The pandemic was not all bad news for couples. Some realised that, before, they put a lot of unnecessary financial pressure onto themselves. They are realising that they can have a good time by ordering takeout and inviting friends home.

Some, however, are still struggling with financial issues as their business closed down. And this, together with health concerns, was stressing their relationship.

While some couples took advantage of the pandemic to invest in more time together, on the flip side, there were those who stopped any fitness or beauty regime, resulting in a situation where they felt less confident about themselves and less attracted to their partner.

Bartolo said that, overall, issues faced by couples remained the same as pre-COVID but were intensified. These include jealousy, concern about not spending enough time together, being misunderstood and feeling not good enough.