Real Relationship Talk: Loneliness in Marriage (2023)

FAQs

How do you express loneliness in a relationship? ›

Loneliness in a marriage can be caused by a number of different things. Family, work, and stress often play a role, but internal factors such as your own unrealistic expectations and fear of vulnerability can also make it hard to connect with your spouse.

What Is a Walkaway Wife? Also referred to as the "neglected wife syndrome" and "sudden divorce syndrome," walkaway wife syndrome is "nothing more than a term used to characterize a person who has decided they cannot stay in the marriage any longer," says Joshua Klapow, Ph.

Yes, feeling lonely in marriage is extremely common and has a lot to do with the high expectations people have of marriage and their spouses. Loneliness comes from feelings of disappointment and emotional abandonment, which can be resolved by working on yourself and working on your relationship.

Conversations to have with your partner about how you feel

Admit how your past trauma has impacted your ability to feel your partner's love. Validate their emotions. Let them know you understand how your actions have caused them to pull away.

Often in a relationship, loneliness can manifest itself in more indirect ways than simply feeling on your own. You might feel irritated or annoyed with your partner, find that you're bickering or arguing, or tend to interpret things they do in a negative way.

What happens when a woman feels neglected? When a woman feels neglected in a relationship, she is likely to feel as if she isn't important. This can lead to her also feeling sad, depressed, or hopeless. She may also begin to feel lonely as if she has no one to turn to because her partner is emotionally unavailable.

Feeling alone and unloved in marriage can also be triggered by depression as well as jealousy and anxiety. These strong emotions can alienate a partner such that you fall into a vicious circle. All these are symptoms though that could mean something much deeper is going on.

Being in a lonely marriage doesn't mean you're physically excluding your partner from your life, but you're emotionally excluding them from your thoughts. While you two may talk, you're not communicating your hopes, fears and dreams.

Why do I feel detached from my husband? ›

Lack of trust may lead to feeling distant from your partner, especially if you previously had trust for them and lost confidence in them. Losing trust could come from not abiding by agreed rules for the relationship, such as infidelity, or it could be that your partner has suddenly been less open than you.

Lack of commitment is the most common reason given by divorcing couples according to a recent national survey. Here are the reasons given and their percentages: Lack of commitment 73% Argue too much 56%

What does it mean to stonewall someone? In simple terms, stonewalling is when someone completely shuts down in a conversation or is refusing to communicate with another person.

In the context of a marriage, the feelings of neglect, being left out, and not being heard are collectively referred to as emotional abandonment. It occurs when one partner is so preoccupied with their own concerns that they are unable to notice the struggles, concerns, or problems their partner is experiencing.

The bottom line? Coan advises every couple to adhere to the 70/30 rule: For the happiest, most harmonious relationship, the pro suggests spending 70% of time together, and 30% apart. That gives each of you enough freedom to explore your own interests while still being rooted and invested in your relationship.

There are several reasons why a person might be feeling alone in a relationship, including trust issues, attachment issues, abuse in past relationships or poor communication styles.

The number one warning sign that your marriage might not work is you stop trying. You stop communicating, or you stop showing affection or planning date nights — you basically stop nurturing the relationship because you or your partner has checked out.

They go out of their way to make you happy.

Initially in a relationship, it seems like both people are constantly doing things to make the other person happy, but sometimes this can fade. If your spouse is still making a conscious effort to be thoughtful, then you know they're still madly in love.

What do you do when your relationship feels empty? ›

If the loneliness stems from your relationship and you're hoping to get back on track, it's time to have another talk with your partner. “The very first thing to do is to become self-aware of what you are feeling and then to approach your partner and begin what will probably be a series of conversations,” Brown says.

Love certainly reduces loneliness, given the right circumstances, but it also increases loneliness under unfavorable ones. Closeness, unlike love, always works toward reducing loneliness. Closeness is useful in a way that love is not.

Emotional neglect occurs when a spouse fails on a regular basis to attend to or respond to their partner's emotional needs. This is marked by a distinct lack of action by one person toward the feelings of the other, including an absence of awareness, consideration, or response to a spouse's emotions.

Another key sign of feeling unappreciated in a relationship is being tired of giving and getting nothing in return. You make sacrifices for your partner, give time and effort to the relationship, and go out of your way to make your partner happy, and none of it is reciprocated.

Neglect in marriage occurs when one (or both) parties fail to be there for themselves and their family in marriage. It usually leads to an emotional separation or estrangement and can lead to broken homes within record time.

Research shows that people in bad marriages usually have low self-esteem, struggle with anxiety and depression, and have a higher rate of illness than those who don't. People feel sad and grieve when they decide to let go — but people who divorce do recover emotionally, and Cole says most find new relationships.

A loveless marriage is a relationship where one or both partners do not feel in love. Instead of being romantic lovers, they often feel more like roommates or siblings. Being in a loveless marriage often breeds isolation, resentment, and hopelessness.

What does it feel like when your marriage is falling apart? ›

You Start Shutting Off or Disconnecting Emotionally

Sometimes you may start feeling that your spouse's problems are not yours and begin distancing yourself from him or her. Your partner might try to connect with you or share some issues, but you don't want to get involved or give your opinion.

Anxiety, stress, and depression are also common sexless marriage effects on the husband. When a husband is denied sex at home for a long time, his mental health is likely to deteriorate from stress, overthinking, and inability to release the feel-good hormone from sex.

When one or both people are unhappy with the sexlessness, she says some potential effects include: Negative feelings like loneliness, resentment, frustration, guilt, rejection, and inadequacy. Negative feelings and pressure around sex, triggering a sexual avoidance cycle. Less openness and connection.

The bottom line? Coan advises every couple to adhere to the 70/30 rule: For the happiest, most harmonious relationship, the pro suggests spending 70% of time together, and 30% apart. That gives each of you enough freedom to explore your own interests while still being rooted and invested in your relationship.

It can stem from your insecurities, jealousy, low self-esteem, stress, or other unresolved issues. It's imperative to reflect on it and cross-question yourself to understand the root cause. Many times, what you are feeling is not personal. Sometimes your partner may be going through issues of their own.

People in a relationship can be lonely because something isn't working in the relationship itself or because they look to their partner to fill a void that they've been carrying within themselves, according to Dardashti.