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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

I don't know how to leave and I'm really close to the edge- depressed partner

11 replies

Horseytwinkletoes2 · 23/01/2024 19:01

Hello.
I could really do with some Internet friends right now đŸ˜”â˜šī¸
I've been with my partner 16 years, we have three children the youngest is 2. He works 12 hour shifts nights and I stay home with the children.
He has suffered depression over the last 6 years and has been on tablets for 5 years. He left our home for 1 year last year while he "sorted his head out"
He came back and since being back our relationship has been non existent. We havent had sex for 2.5 years. I've cried almost every day for a year for him to show me some form of love but "the depression makes it hard" when I do cry he never offers a comforting arm he just tells me I need to stop and that I'm ridiculous or hormonal or being silly. He does nothing around the home and leaves all his dirty things lying around and says he works long hours so is too tired to be doing that too. I'm really struggling to find a reason to stay other than he says it's the depression and long hours and he can't help it if he's depressed and tired. But I've been at home for the last 2 years I have no income of my own neither of us have anywhere else to go to, I feel stuck I'm totally stuck with a man who doesn't make this seem like a relationship and offers no love or intimacy and he makes me feel ridiculous for feeling the way I do and just wanting somebody to love me. â˜šī¸ I really don't know what to do. Am I just being stupid and heartless to someone with depression?

OP posts:
BitzandBobs · 23/01/2024 19:04

No you are not being heartless. You get one life. Ask yourself whether you would be happy if you stayed looking back on your life on your death bed? How did you cope financially when he left for a year? Why did he come back?

allenginesgo · 23/01/2024 19:05

No you're not being stupid or heartless. It sounds very much like the relationship is over and you deserve to be happy, which it doesn't sound like you have been for some time now?

If I were in your position I would start making plans to earn a regular income so you are no longer financially dependent on him and then leave.

Might be tough but surely it's better than what you are currently dealing with? Smile

Horseytwinkletoes2 · 23/01/2024 19:08

He was still.a big part of the kids lives and he sent money and I went onto universal credit. The problem was he was coming round every day to.see the kids and it felt like I could never move on while that was the case. Where he was staying wasn't suitable for the kids to go to. Also it really hit my kids hard especially my 6 year old. He's got some form of separation anxiety towards him now. It just feels like I'm trapped from all angles

OP posts:
Horseytwinkletoes2 · 23/01/2024 19:10

He came back because he said he wanted to be a family and wanted to be with me. But since he's come back he hasn't even attempted anything remotely intimate and backed away at any attempt by me. And now.i feel like some stupid sex pest who shouldn't be doing this to the depressed person

OP posts:
alwaystired42 · 23/01/2024 19:21

is he seeking any help for his depression? Because it sounds like he’s not trying to help himself?
is it just you he’s distant with or the kids also?

Horseytwinkletoes2 · 23/01/2024 19:24

He's been to the drs on and off over the past 6 years. He's on a high dose of anti depressants. He is fine with the kids. He's play time dad, no telling off or getting them dressed or parenting jobs, just play time dad.

OP posts:
PermanentTemporary · 23/01/2024 19:36

Could you have some therapy with him? Or at least see his GP together?

All I can say is that he's behaving like a twat. My husband had severe mental health problems and eventually died of them. There were certainly things he couldn't do, and more and more of them as time went on. It was hard. But he was loving and affectionate, and tried his very best to be a present dad.

ToriaFontana · 23/01/2024 19:45

I’m going to offer a perception of your issue led by my intuition, what I refer to as my highest intelligence. This is what I do for a living. I hope you find this supportive!

First, I know your pain because I experienced this with my former husband whose way of coping was to abandon me and duck himself into long hours of video games, lots of beer, and the excitement of other women. The most important thing here is not what he did, even though it was so painful for me to live around. These were the ways in which he chose to cope. He could have used his pain as a source of fuel for his growth. But he didn’t. He chose to stuff his emotions and cover up his sadness with activities he’d enjoyed when he wasn’t depressed, before the long work hours and personal struggles of shame.

We all experience pain and struggle in a social way of life that requires very long hours to be able to make ends meet. One will get depressed when the perception of pressure on the outside is too great for someone to create balance within so they can feel their emotions and adjust them accordingly.

Take for instance the ability to see a painful experience for what it is. Let’s say a commute to work that requires someone to wake up before the sun rises and takes aways his ability to see his children before they go to sleep. This would cause most people feelings of deep sadness if their values are compromised.

Now with that, one could take this situation to abandon himself and disintegrate his values, instead creating more disturbances equal to or greater in energy. Or he could self-reflect, taking into consideration that the disturbances of stress, sleeplessness, and strain at home when he is not able to see his children are a reflection of his desires missing from his reality. He would see this and take on the perception of change to match his values. He would not abandon himself, his needs, or his family.

I understand there are influences that make changes a challenge. But when emotions are ignored, there will be no change. Without transcending the emotion, thoughts about what isn’t working will linger. The person will suffer. The body will disintegrate (sex drive, ability to hold emotional space for you, depression, exhaustion.

Are you being heartless to someone with depression? That depends on your perception. Do you value living with someone who is unwilling to care for his own needs, and therefore not have the energy to give to those he loves? Do you want a partner that contributes to the functions of a family and a relationship? These are the questions to ask yourself. In this, you will find your values. If you will live by your values, you will create the intentions that will allow you to bring them to your reality. But if you do not reflect on your values, you will continue living in codependency and self-abandonment. You can be heartless to yourself. When living in your integrity, allowing yourself to be honest to your deep truth, you can never be stupid.

With eyes wide open, you will get through this quickly. So much love to you!

Horseytwinkletoes2 · 23/01/2024 20:19

That's so kind of you to reply in so much detail and with so much insight. â¤ī¸

OP posts:
TammyJones · 26/01/2024 08:55

@ToriaFontana
Good stuff, but you lost me in the analogy- what would he do in this situation?
Change his job to less hours/ commute?
Or just change his attitude and enjoy his train journey?
Genuine question and there is a lot of wisdom in your words

ToriaFontana · 26/01/2024 21:11

Hi TammyJones. Good questions. I see where more clarity is needed. Let's see what comes through...

From original post... "Or he could self-reflect, taking into consideration that the disturbances of stress, sleeplessness, and strain at home when he is not able to see his children are a reflection of his desires missing from his reality. He would see this and take on the perception of change to match his values. He would not abandon himself, his needs, or his family."

What would he need to do in this situation? It always comes down to the need to cultivate awareness. Changing your action or changing your perception will only work temporarily, if it works at all. You can't change a problem by the level of the problem. In this case, you can't change a problem with the mind. The mind caused it. You need to change it energetically because this is all everything is. All "problems" aren't really problems anyway. They are illusions that our mind perceives. (I can continue down a deep valley of explaining this in terms of energy. Another day...)

So to cultivate awareness, you begin with understanding what has led to the downward spiral. Identify all triggers. Then one by one, release the emotional pains in the body the triggers have created by identifying the original cause, asking your inner wisdom for clarity, changing the thought with truth from inner wisdom, and taking action steps aligned with your inner wisdom. Then what you're left with is the feeling. Without an associated thought, the feeling goes away on its own. There's nothing to keep it energetically alive. It is no longer a pain in the body.

Pains in the body are caused from the many times you feel emotional unwellness and you don't move through them. These feelings of emotional unrest is energy. We may have conscious or unconscious thoughts and actions that allow this energy to literally stick with us. We allow the energy to stay with us because we attract energy. So we're attracting this negative energy through our thoughts and actions and repeating the pain the energy causes as we get triggered. The energy is already with us so we will always get triggered, even through indirect causes like a wife nagging or a child playing loudly. Compound this with exhaustion and the person will have a tough time getting through this challenge.

I know this is not exactly the message you may have been expecting, according to your question. Those resolutions are not real, even though many people teach that changing your thoughts or actions individually can create sustainable change. If we are not energetic beings, this might be true. But we are. Therefore, the solution must be energetic.

Hope this helps!!!! Let me know if you have any other questions.

XT

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