As I had mentioned when I tried to initiate a discusion on the subject, it was like knocking on a closed door and she wouldn't answer. Its the first time since last June that she had opened the door again herself, by directly asking, "Can we talk about us?"... The question now is, will she be willing to keep the door open so I can come back and get some answers to the questions I may feel the need to ask down the road or is this still a one way street? ... but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. (Alright, enough with the roadside metaphors!)
My W has developed a pessimistic frame of mind and I believe is the main source that keeps her in the cycle of anxiety. It is going to take more than me saying it however to convince her. The books I'm hoping will help are:
"Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy" by David D.Burns, Md.
plus Michelle's book: "Change Your Life and Everyone In It"
I would like her to understand that even on a personal level, the pattern of what hasn't work can be broken and with "butterfly" effect, 180's and acting "as-if", etc... she can change her perception around which will result in her feeling better about herself and expand from there. While all this is in DR, she is intimidated by the title and won't read it. With the emphasis of this book being more on the personal level than on the marital relationship, I would hope she would be more open to reading it.
There is a book I want to get for me called, "HOW YOU CAN SURVIVE WHEN THEY'RE DEPRESSED: Living and Coping with Depression Fallout" by Anne Sheffield. I hope this will help me continue in keeping the positive changes going.
Anyone else have others they would recommend, I would love to hear about them ...
'til later,
KAW
P.S. Oops, didn't mean to imply I wasn't going to read the other books. Do plan on reading these with W, but the last one is to help me with my personal goals.
