Breaking the Silence on the emotional pain you have been experiencing while supporting a partner suffering with depression.
In my blog of 22 December 2009 I mentioned a 10 part series of blogs I would share with you, each of which will give you an insight into managing depression within a committed relationship.
Here is Insight 3:
Find a place of “safety” where you can break the silence on the emotional pain you are experiencing and openly talk about the impact your partner’s depression is having on you and your family.
Why is it important to break the silence on your emotional pain?
- I have found that women tend to keep silent on this particular emotional pain they are suffering. It is instinctively what we do as women, yet it does not serve us well. As women we are very conscious of and sensitive to protecting our partner’s integrity and social standing in life as well as our own.
It is important to recognise that keeping silent on this issue only increases the hurt, pain and tension in the relationship. It closes the door to the possibility of finding a way to have a happy relationship and home life while living with a partner with depression.
- There is therapy in breaking the silence on your emotional pain. Can a woman live with a partner who has depression and still have a fulfilling relationship and happy family? You absolutely can if that is what you truly desire and are prepared to break the code on your silence in relation to this very personal and private situation that you live with every day.
- In breaking the silence on your emotional pain you have created for yourself what I call a “place of safety”. In this “place of safety” you find the total freedom to express the pain, frustration and helplessness you have been experiencing. You will feel comfortable to openly talk about the impact your partner’s depression is having on you and your family.
- Healing flows from your “place of safety”. Once you have broken the silence on your pain, a flow of healing comes as you open up and accept the situation. From this place of liberty you feel more at ease talking to those close to you about what you have been suffering in silence for so many years. The moment you feel it is “safe” enough for you to open up and talk with someone who truly understands what you are living with every single day and night, is the moment your pain begins to ease and hope rekindles within you.
Christine McRae, The Trail Blazing Woman. [email protected]
© December 2009, The Trail Blazing Woman
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