In married life, many belief that after they say ‘I do’, it’s happily ever ever after. However, that is just the start of the journey, you can’t reach that destination without a few detours and bumps along the way. It’s like a Nigerian road, no matter your destination, there’s always a porthole.
Life especially married life is filled with plenty of ups and downs, and of course, there are days when everyone wants to tune out and wait for the storm to pass. But when tuning out temporarily turns into weeks and months, that’s a sign that something much bigger is going on, like emotional neglect in a marriage.
What Is Emotional Neglect?
Emotional neglect is the lack of action by one person in a relationship and is often difficult to identify. The characteristics of emotional neglect in a marriage are a lack of emotional support and failing to meet your partner’s needs.
Emotional neglect, unsurprisingly, pushes couples apart; you can’t feel emotionally safe or secure in a relationship with emotional neglect. It can also really negatively affect your own personal wellbeing; both mentally and physically.
The interesting aspect of emotional neglect is that the victim may only have a vague sense that something is wrong. In the end, most people tend to stay in relationships that aren’t working because there is no real evidence of trouble, even as the relationship is crumbling around them.
Signs of Emotional Neglect
Although hard to identify emotional neglect, there are some signs that could help you recognize if it’s going on in your marriage. There are many ways this behavior can play out in a marriage, including invalidating your partner, ignoring your partner or their attempts at connecting, or disregarding the vulnerabilities they share or boundaries they assert. The most common signs of emotional neglect in a marriage are:
- You feel like you’re alone in your relationship.
- You prefer to spend time alone versus time with your partner.
- Your partner shuts down when you want to talk.
- You’re not sure what your partner wants from you.
- You don’t engage in social activities as a couple.
- Your go-to person is a friend, not your partner.
- You consistently ignore or suppress your feelings.
- You don’t feel comfortable around your family and friends.
- You procrastinate on long-term decisions and are hesitant to move forward with things like having kids or buying a home.
- You don’t feel like you can be yourself with your partner.
- You don’t trust your partner.
- There’s a lack of physical intimacy.
Causes of Emotional Neglect
The specific causes of emotional neglect tend to vary from one relationship to the next, but the constant is a transfer in the support one partner gives to the other. Very often this could look like one partner throwing themselves into a new job or a shifting their focus to the children. And, of course, in some cases, emotional neglect in a marriage could be the result of an affair.
Emotional neglect originates from an individual’s own attachment issues. If someone never learned how to have a supportive, healthy relationship in childhood or adolescence, they will struggle to make that change in adulthood. This does not mean they are unable; however, it will take work.
How to Cope With Emotional Neglect
Like most issues, complaining about the problem or staying silent won’t fix anything; for committed couples, the key to getting past this situation is working together. Ahead we discuss some tips on how to handle emotional neglect in a marriage.
Don’t be a victim.
While your partner’s behavior may be hurtful, it’s important that you don’t play the victim card. Doing so can be counterproductive; you’ll likely be more accusatory and fall back on the blame game to no avail. The fact is, if you spend most of your time and energy telling your partner what they did wrong or how they hurt you, that could put them on the defensive and cause them to distance themselves further.
While it’s important to talk to your partner and let them know how you feel, it’s equally important that you don’t rehash the same things over and over again. Perhaps the initial conversation should focus on your hurt feelings, but once you get it out, subsequent discussions should be focused on how to fix the problem and move on to a healthier dynamic in your relationship.
Examine any underlying causes for the behavior.
Just like any problem you tackle in life, it’s important to spend some time thinking about what sparked the issue, or in this case, the behavior, in the first place. Ask yourself the following questions:
Was your relationship always like this or did it deteriorate over time?
Does it feel like your partner’s attitude changed from one day to the next?
Is there a situation or event that precipitated their change in behavior?
If your partner’s emotionally neglectful behavior has always been a part of your relationship, this might be a far bigger issue than you realize. However, if you can trace this change in behavior back to a specific event, or you can say with some certainty that your partner is just going through a rough patch, that could make all the difference in how this all plays out. If being emotionally unavailable is just how they operate, changing their behavior will be substantially more difficult, if it’s possible at all. However, if this behavior is situational, your chances of mending the relationship are far greater.
Be proactive.
With any relationship, it takes two to tango, and while the source of neglect might be coming from your partner, it’s probably not a good idea to just sit back and wait it out. Remember that sometimes people don’t recognize their own behavior. So, if your partner doesn’t realize that they are being neglectful or hurting you, you’ll likely never see a change because they don’t even know that something is wrong.
Talk about it constructively.
As difficult as it might be, it’s important that you and your partner invest the time to sit down and talk about your relationship. Be sure to pick a time where upcoming commitments don’t put your eyes on the clock, and perhaps most importantly, try to do it when you have the bandwidth to deal with it. Trying to have a productive conversation when you’re tired, hungry, or stressed will never be fruitful.
Additionally, it’s important that you make the conversation constructive. Angry words, hurling accusations, and pointing fingers are never helpful. If saving your relationship is the ultimate goal, you must approach the conversation from a place of love, understanding, and forgiveness.
Make arrangements to spend quality time together.
While spending more time with an emotionally neglectful partner may seem counterintuitive, sometimes that could be precisely what the relationship needs. Getting some distance from the stress of everyday life, work, and other demands can give everyone a little room to breathe. In the absence of “the noise,” you can spend much-needed time focusing on each other. Who knows, it might be just the thing you need to rekindle the spark.
Seek professional help.
Emotional neglect in a marriage is an issue that can be incredibly difficult to fix on your own, but a good therapist can be infinitely helpful. A trained professional can facilitate constructive conversations, help you get some perspective, and give you both the space to express your feelings.
Moreover, a therapist is an unbiased third party who can identify emotional neglect. Coming from a neutral third party, your partner might be more likely to “hear” it and make amends.
Be patient.
Remember that issues that take months or years to play out cannot be resolved overnight. Correcting a pattern of emotional neglect is most certainly a labor of love if there ever was one.
IN CONCLUSION
You might be in a hurry to get your relationship on the right path using these tips how’re we you shouldn’t rush because it takes hard work, time and patience to enjoy married life. Trust the process, love and light, Wonder.
