My husband and I recently celebrated 13 years of marriage and in fact we have been together for over 23 years…Most of my family and friends would agree we do bicker sometimes, so it amused me when The Psychologist magazine in March had an article on annoying partners.

Apparently a survey of British people found that a third considered their partner to be the most annoying person they know! There are some things, like snoring for example, that we can’t do anything about; but there are other common behaviours, like scrolling on your phone when someone is trying to talk to you, that you can alter… Also stress at work is something that partners often take home with them and that in turn can lead to over reactions about their partner’s behaviour…The good news is that as we get older we get better at managing tensions in our romantic relationships.

Good communication is key and that is something I often help my clients with. Obviously for serious problems the best option is to go to a couples therapist (which I am not!) And ultimately we cannot do anything to control another person’s behaviour -we can only control our own.