Mobile siteDepression
26th July 2019
If you are depressed, your relationship can also become depressed.
Depression can wreak havoc on your ability to experience and maintain intimacy within your relationship. Being depressed can illicit feelings of worthlessness; depression can affect moods, thoughts and behaviours, and even physical health. A common impact of depression is feeling lost or numb, so the depressed becomes disconnected from their inner self, and when we can’t connect to ourselves, naturally it becomes challenging to connect with others.
Living with depression, and trying to maintain healthy relationships can become draining. Depression can cause or magnify existing relationship issues, which in turn can feed the depression resulting in more intense feelings of loneliness and isolation, it’s a vicious cycle.
If you are depressed it’s likely that your perception of reality can become distorted. You may notice that your reactions to everyday situations can become erratic, and your feelings more intense. For example, if you are feeling low and vulnerable, you may become very critical of your partner, or feel that you are being criticised by your partner. You may also find that you become very needy and seek constant positive affirmation and assurance from your partner. When you are depressed it may not be easy to command control over your reactions in the moment. Getting to know how your depression impacts you and your relationship can help you to separate the real you from the depressed you, so that you don’t end up becoming critical if you acted in a way which you wouldn’t have ordinarily if you were not suffering with depression.