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hoping to relate to others out there..husband has health anxiety/depression

hoping to relate to others out there..husband has health anxiety/depression

hi, am so relieved to make contact with this forum. My husband of almost 10 years has health anxiety/depression. He has had it for almost 4 years now, but always had some mild anxiety from worrying excessively, so did his mum. He hasnt sought professional help, except one session with a local free service who told him to stop worrying about things and think about your family. But as you can imagine that didnt go down too well..... he has been obssesed about his health since our daughter had cancer 4 years ago. Around the same time he became unemployed and hasnt returned to the work force, he has some desire to return to some work but not the previous roles he once had.So he just keeps saying he needs to be creative and I need to leave him alone and not nag him about it.But he stays up late, Ill come home and he will be on youtube watching documentaries or learning about something thats totally non work related. im so fustrated that he doesnt seem to want to work again and spends his days basically just at home, no social network, unresponsive at times to me too and the family and we hardly go out as a family ever. let alone any inviation we might recieve or outing.Im always with our kids and doing things with them ontop of the house hold chores, i shop, take bins out, do the school runs, doctors,bills everything basically. I know im really having a negative rant and i feel bad esp as this is my first post i cant imagine my first impression is that great lol. But i have hope this forum and its communty can really help me filter whats happening around me and to maybe help me understand more what struggles my husband is facing. i feel so let down and dissapointed that he is not the husband and the roles attached to it, and im sure other women too will read this and be nodding their heads. but i dont know what to do, he says he is open to seeing a pyhscologist but on the other hand he is so involved in reasearching specialist doctors to help him diagnose his mystery illness. all tests so far have come back clear thank God. but he insists there is something there. whenever i bring up my fustration or concern about his behaviour somehow it gets turned onto me and he tells me that he is a result of what i put him through? i feel so guilt but angry and fustrated that somehow his actions are all my fault? so whenever he says that i go back to retreat bec i dont know how to respond to this other than to tell him that he needs to find within him a desire to be a man and husband for his family, its not found outside of him. any advice will be much appreciated. many thanks in advance.

13 replies

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In response to: hoping to relate to others out there..husband has health anxiety/depression

Re: hoping to relate to others out there..husband has health anxiety/depression

hey thanks for your message and support, yes have tried the marriage counselling thing but thats basically something unheard of in his culture. it looks like you have seruiously lost it, so imagine what a physcologist might do to the family? lol...i brought up again talk therapy and how it may of huge benefit to him but his repsonse is...Ive tried everything and how is that going to help?". but he does hint that he mught consider it, so does that mean I have to go about like usual and organise everything for him? or should i just lay back and if he wants to...he will? he is seriously not one to go about and make the decision and do it so easily. most of the time it takes alot of talking and persisting and usually it always ends up with me doing the calls and the pushing and the waiting in the car for him to take him...sighs...i dont know..to be honest i feel negative just thinking about hte situation and also feel crappy today anyway. today is a down day on it all i guess, a day where i should be happy about purchasing a new vehicle i feel most miserable and stressed at his attitude and i am worried about my kids esp my eldest at 8 who seems to have high levels of stress herself. her reaction to thigns are quite over the top when i htink it should be lower. fingers crossed and praying this summer season brings good new ideas and actions for us all....

In response to: Re: hoping to relate to others out there..husband has health anxiety/depression

Re: hoping to relate to others out there..husband has health anxiety/depression

oh i am sorry to hear you are not doing well today, congrates on the new car. it is understandable why you are feeling like this so dont be too harsh on yourself.

if you think your husband can move forward with some help then it may be a good idea to be there when he makes the call to the doctor or have you as a support person for his first session. it is helpful for most people. follow your insticts, most times you know what to do.

also about your daughter, the parents mental health will always affect the kids, has she been connected to any services? referral to a child psychologist or counsellor will be very helpful for her too. it must be such a confusing thing for her to watch her father unwell and withdrawan and kids around that age often blame themselves for their adults behaviours so they too can develop depression or behavioural issues.

now that you have your new car, go for a nice drive with your children, get some ice cream and play music and try to have some fun even if it is for 10 minutes, it will help you lift up your mood 🙂

In response to: Re: hoping to relate to others out there..husband has health anxiety/depression

Re: hoping to relate to others out there..husband has health anxiety/depression

hi @tryintokeepsane , @clarity

Oh , thank you for you support and messages, we have so much in common , I have to organise everything for him,

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