How Depression Affects Marriage
One of the major causes of divorce among couples is this devastating psychological problem that has something to do with the mood disorder, depression. A person with depression symptoms is eventually suffers from a great deal of challenges. This can also affect their partner. A depressed person may exhibit behaviors that are not appropriate for the marital relationship. In this article we will discuss How Does Depression Affect a Marriage and how it affects the relationship of husband and wife.
Marriage is sanctity as stated by most people. It is where two people decide to bind themselves that may last for a lifetime. However, there are situations that challenge a couple all throughout their marital relationship. Aside from the growing responsibility of each other because of changing status, stress from other scenario such as work can also trigger the chance of a person to suffer from general depression symptoms. Below is the list of the clinical manifestations of depression that can disrupt the relationship of couples and affect marriage:
How Does Depression Affect a Marriage
Loss of sexual interest
This is very common to all forms of depression. Sexual activity is part of human instinct. A man and a woman must submit themselves to each other because it is their role to meet everybody’s physiologic need. That is of course, sex.
If depression strikes in a person then it may alarm the partner. The tendency for this might cause a conflict among the two. A person who is not depressed might think that their marriage is not working well because their depressed partner is not giving enough attention or motive about sex. The most crucial part here is when the partner of a depressed person is not familiar with this condition; thereby they will interpret it differently.
Anger
One of the general depression symptoms is anger. If a depressed person strikes madness towards their partner, they will have the tendency to hurt them physically. This is common to depressed men or people who suffer from major depression.
Anger is considered as one of the earliest manifestation of depression. A depressed person can get easily mad even with a slightest stimulus. If this condition persists, the partner who is not aware of the problem of their spouse eventually may decide to get a divorce. Unfortunately, the entire family will be affected most especially the kids.
Loss of interest to work
Work is a crucial part of everybody’s life, especially if you have the responsible of a family on your shoulder. A depressed person loses their interest to work and indulge himself to other unusual activities. This in turn will let the other partner to double up their responsibilities as to cover up the shortcomings of their depressed partner.
Probably, at the onset of the mental illness, the unaware spouse can understand the behavior of the depressed spouse. However, if things are getting worst and the pressure is already at the shoulder of the unaffected partner, she/he may eventually feel tired and anxious. This will be the starting point of conflict within the marital relationship.
Unhealthy vices
As one of the depression symptoms, alcoholism and/or drug abuse can obliterate the foundation of marital relationship. A depressed spouse who starts to engage in this activity can be alarming. Once it gets worst, people within the family will be affected. This manifestation is most likely to occur among depressed men. Substance abuse is worst because it can totally destroy the well-being of a depressed person. Psychotic depression is a form of depressive disorder that usually manifests this symptom.
Isolation
A depressed spouse prefers to be alone. They are not comfortable of being with their wife or husband. They seldom want to sleep together in one bed. The unaffected spouse might felt that they are not loved by their depressed spouse. They might think of their partners that he/she might have other affairs. Later on the unaware spouse might look for a lawyer to discuss their divorce. This makes isolation as one of the general depression symptoms.
Read more: How to Support a Depressed Partner: 11 Ways to Help
Read also: Depressed individual takes out all the frustration and anger on his or her partner
These were the major points How Does Depression Affect a Marriage. Open communication is the best way to resolve the conflict. There are experts that will suggest them to undergo couple counseling. There are many cases of depression that are treated well because of the support coming from their spouse. That includes treatment modalities such as therapy and antidepressant drugs.
Learn more here on → How to Deal With the Depression
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