Are you in a relationship with a depressed someone? Depression affects approximately 18.8 million people. Learn how the author coped as she shares her experiences living with a depressed husband.
Excerpt
I envision myself standing at a canyon’s rim looking across the gap at a gathering of people enjoying a picnic. They are at ease with each other, engaged in animated conversations. The sound of their laughter reaches me and I am envious of their naturalness, their free laughter, their complete ease with one another. They seem so comfortable with each other, I want to be a part of it. I yearn for that relaxed state of just being myself, being accepted by others despite my imperfections.
But I am only an onlooker, separated by a gulf. Something I can’t even identify keeps me separated. Yet in some way I know it’s strictures of the life I live that restrains me. I have lost my social skills, forgotten how to act around other people, and forgotten all those little natural phrases of convention that are the warp and weft of social interaction.
I feel the aloneness, the distancing, mostly when in public situations. It’s as if I’m encased in a glass bell-jar that keeps others from getting too close. Intimacy has become a foreign experience; I have been isolated with my own thoughts for too long. I find it extremely difficult to engage in small talk, those ordinary exchanges of pleasantries that are so much a part of everyday interactions between people.
My frustration and resentment continued to grow. I felt so helpless, unable to do anything to help my husband. His constant sadness and negativity began to pull me down. As hard as I found it to do, I knew I needed to take myself out of this depressing situation and force myself to interact with people who would feed my psyche.
Copyright 2008 Gay Ingram. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.
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