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Could my boyfriend's emotional detachment be depression, burnout or something else?

35 replies

Goldiel · 04/09/2026 22:40

I think there is something wrong with my boyfriend but I don't really know what it could be. He's absolutely not a bad person and very gentle but he generally seems really detached and disinterested in people. It's definitely gotten "worse" or more noticeable and I'm wondering if these might be signs of depression or maybe burnout.
He caused some upset last weekend when he called someone dramatic when they talked about something that clearly upset them. This evening we were with friends and he casually mentioned that he saw a child get hit by a car today, but he seemed surprised that we were all shocked and wanted to know more because he had apparently just decided to keep driving because he hadn't been involved, didn't care and because he had to be somewhere. He hadn't even mentioned it to me earlier today.
When we got home he went straight to bed because he was tired which is ok of course but again not the usual behaviour.

I just think these things have become more pronounced and I think that something is wrong but I know that he'll just claim to be fine if I raise it again.

Does this sort of thing around familiar? I was thinking of depression or burnout but I am no expert at all. Any suggestions welcome

OP posts:
Huckleberries · 06/09/2026 02:07

Goldiel · 05/09/2026 07:19

My concern is more that it's gotten worse in the last few months. If he was always this detached that would be an entirely different story but it's the change that worries me because it's been creeping up into social situations. But he just says that he is fine.

He is fine

Why do you think it’s any of those things depression burnout whatever?

This is the stage where you see more of who he really is. He probably seemed lively and more emotional when you first started seeing each other.

Ruthietuthie · 06/09/2026 02:10

Whatever the cause, I would throw this one back.
A life with someone fundamentally lacking in empathy sounds really difficult. What when that lack of empathy is directed towards your own children? I would break up now.

UpDownAllAround1 · 06/09/2026 02:24

You are just not compatible. Detachment is irrelevant

VoltaireMittyDream · 06/09/2026 02:39

Sounds like a lot of autistic men (and many autistic women) I know.

Meridianne · 06/09/2026 05:07

Sounds a bit like my brother who has a personality disorder. What is he like when he gets angry?
Has there ever been a time when he realised that he has hurt someone and how did he react?

Goldiel · 06/09/2026 17:36

Most of the time he is completely fine but sometimes not. I've only seen him angry a few times and he was bad then (never against me or someone else close).
He sometimes apologies and other times completely ignores it when he has upset someone. That's what I meant. He used to be better but has gotten worse. But it's ok.

OP posts:
LittleJustice · 07/09/2026 07:35

Sounds perhaps like he has autistic traits. Perhaps like other have said, he was masking up to now and now he's dropping the mask. You'll have to decide if you can cope with a life with someone like this.

OldrNWisr · 07/09/2026 07:51

I suspect this is just who he is and after the first year of you being together, he’s started to relax and not mask it so much. You won’t be able to fix him and put him back to how he was in the beginning. You need to decide if you can live with him and love him as he is.

VoltaireMittyDream · 07/09/2026 12:53

You keep saying it’s ‘OK’, but I’d really urge you to think about the feelings and instincts that prompted you to post, OP.

Check in on the support threads for partners of people (largely men) with ASD. Or look up the term Cassandra syndrome.

See whether you are really happy signing up to a future with someone whose sole response if you were to receive a cancer diagnosis, for example, might be irritation, or anxiety about how they themselves will be affected and inconvenienced if you are not able to keep doing what you do for them.

See if you are really OK with a partner who never wants to do things together, is rude to your friends and family, and just cannot make himself listen, let alone care, if you tell him about something important that’s going on in your life.

Think about whether you are OK to have your life rigidly restricted by another person’s anxiety or need for control or lack of initiative or inability to collaborate or compromise. If you’re happy going through life apologising for him when he’s upset people. If you’re OK walking on eggshells around someone with no ability to rise above a transient bad mood in order to be even minimally polite and civil.

This is not depression or burnout or something wrong that will pass - this is who he is, and the more he settles into your relationship the more evident it will become. It doesn’t make him a bad person, but it does make him someone with a social disability that limits his ability to function as a genuine partner in life.

Convincing yourself this is all stuff you’re OK with in an intimate relationship (where you need to trust someone to care about your happiness and take your needs and desires into consideration) can set you up for a lifetime of erasing yourself to nothing. To accommodate a partner who doesn’t miss you when you go away, and who might very well feel relieved if you were to die tomorrow because he experiences your desire for a bit of interaction & connection as intolerably intrusive and pressuring.

When your partner doesn’t have the ability to recognise you as a person who matters in your own right, you begin to feel that you are subhuman. As it becomes more and more difficult, practically and financially, to leave, you find no longer have the belief in yourself to take the risk. Over time your partner has convinced you that anything that might bring you happiness and contentment and a feeling of connection is a pointless and superficial waste of time, and a massive imposition on others. That it’s unrealistic to expect anything more from life. So there seems little point in trying to get out.

Take your own feelings and reservations seriously while you still can.

GreySlatts · 07/09/2026 13:29

What @VoltaireMittyDream said.

I think this kind of personality can mask or try hard early on (as they see a partner or friends as useful socially) but later on you see you're like you're an appendage to their needs and emotions.

Unless you're quite cold yourself, or fawning, or suppressing your own needs the relationship doesn't work.

I know there's this line of thinking about "clear communication" but in real life why commit to "coaching" an adult man you've only been in a relationship for a year who is already making you uneasy?

Your partner should be your social safe space by now who helps you feel better, not someone to worry about.

What happens if you start "malfunctioning" or have something going on he sees as "drama"?

The fact that you're already feeling uncomfortable is your intuition telling you something is wrong.

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