Marriage Advice When You're Struggling with a Partner with Depression
When You're Married to Someone, You're Committed — Through Thick and Thin, Sick and Well. but When You're Married to Someone with Depression, Sometimes You...
When you're married to someone, you're committed — through thick and thin, sick and well. But when you're married to someone with depression, sometimes you feel a little sick yourself.
How do you manage to care for your partner yet also find happiness, both within and outside of the marriage? How do you live with a partner who at times may consider suicide or shut off from everyone, including yourself? How to you help them and yourself understand how to deal with depression?
It's not easy. And sometimes, it pushes you to the brink of your own sanity. But where marriage advice doesn't provide you with a guide for managing depression as a partner, here are 10 struggles spouses of someone with depression know too well.
1. Your depressed partner may have suicidal thoughts.
In that alone, you sort of feel insulted. Is your love not enough? Your life together?
At the same time, you know that your partner can't help how his or her brain functions. That depression is a serious issue. But fearing that your partner may take his or her life takes a toll on you. You end up feeling like you're a superhero trying to "rescue" your partner from death. It's exhausting.
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2. You always have to be an advocate.
In many ways, you are your spouse's advocate. When your spouse is severely depressed, who goes to bat for him or her? Who pushes going to see a therapist or a doctor? You do. It's like you're the treatment coordinator.
Robert Thorne covers electric vehicle innovations, autonomous driving systems, global mobility trends, and automotive engineering developments.
