Relationships

When you are depressed, a lot is happening in your brain.

Because the brain controls intimacy and sexual impulses, you may experience many physical and psychological problems in your relationship with your partner when you are depressed.

Depression makes it hard for you to:

   • feel desire
   • flirt
   • receive positive attention
   • give positive attention
   • show interest in your partner
   • persuade people
   • make demands
   • set limits
   • get out of an unpleasant situation

Professional treatment

The problems that you are experiencing in your relationship with your partner should be taken into account when you seek professional help for your depression.

If you are depressed, you may withdraw from your partner. This is because you may lack the ability to accept intimacy and love and you may believe you are not worthy of their love and attention. A relationship is demanding, particularly when one party is affected by depression.

You will find that there will be
    • emotional problems that you must resolve
    • an role imbalance that you must repair
    • misunderstandings that you must resolve

When you're depressed, you may have a tendency to unleash anger and hostility, so conflicts can easily arise. There may even be incidences of violence in your relationship if you or your partner is depressed.

By being aware of the symptoms, you can stop them from destroying your relationship. It is not the relationship that is hopeless; it is your illness that is affecting your ability to function well in your relationship.

It is the depression and its symptoms that are causing the problems. And you can do something about them

Negative thoughts in a relationship
The relationship may activate many negative thoughts. You could easily hurt the person you love and misunderstandings and tension are common.

This may be due to:
    • negative thoughts about yourself
    • negative thoughts about others
    • lack of self-confidence
    • low self-esteem
    • failing confidence in those who mean the most to you
    • anger and aggression

When you are depressed, you may have a tendency to react with aggression and irritability.  This can easily lead to conflicts and sometimes even violence.

Treatment is important
It is very important to seek help for the problems you are experiencing in your relationship.
Couples therapy can help you and your partner to identify and solve your problems.

These problems could be
    • lack of self-confidence
    • sadness
    • sexual problems
    • communication problems and misunderstandings

Individual therapy or group therapy can also help to resolve your relationship problems. With individual therapy or group therapy, you will work on problem-solving.

Getting close with and avoiding your partner
Love and intimacy in your relationship requires certain skills. In order to feel love and intimacy, you must be able to strike a balance between getting close to and avoiding your partner:

    • You must be able to get close and look for contact when you need it
    • You should also have the confidence to seek contact, even though you run the risk
       of being rejected
    • You should also be able to remove yourself from a situation if you do not want the
       contact or need to spend some time alone

You have many needs and wishes that need to be met concerning intimacy, both physically and mentally. Make sure you get help from your doctor if neccessary.