Originally Posted by WOS
It seemed like, no matter what the issues are in a m, conflicts between couples sound very similar. At some point, when there is no resolution, one of the characters tells the other "I don't love you anymore."

Relationships generally fall apart for one of three reasons: (1) One partner becomes emotionally unstable for a variety of reasons, which may include mental illness, addiction, issues related to a bad childhood, etc. (2) One partner has a momentary lapse of judgement and cheats and the other partner can't forgive them, or (3) the relationship slowly degrades over time for both people.

In the first case, sometimes people have latent issues and they either temporarily get better (an addict stops using for a while, a person with a mood disorder pursues treatment, etc), or the partner knows the issues are there and chooses to ignore them initially, fooling themselves or falsely believing that things will magically get better in the future.

This "fooling yourself" phenomenon is a lot of what goes on -- you fall in love with who you want the person to be versus who they really are. Over time, your veneer gets stripped away, you see them for who they really are and it’s no longer acceptable.

The tragic situation is when someone who was emotionally healthy when you met and dated them has a breakdown after you're married and just becomes unlivable due to their issues. That's rare but it certainly does happen, people just "go crazy" sometimes.

The third scenario is really what the quote above is about. Chances are if the husband is ignoring the wife's complaints, it’s because he's not very motivated to respond to them. The reason is generally that he's not having his needs met either, and his complaints are likely also being ignored.

That's the vicious cycle that tends to land people here -- your needs aren't being met, so you're less motivated to provide your husband with what he needs. His needs aren't being met, so he's not motivated to give you what you need, and that spinning wheel eventually drives you apart until one person (or both people) decides they want out.

Sometimes the scenarios are combined, you could have all three things going on.

My point is, unless you "went crazy" after you married H, this is in no way your fault for not responding to his complaints. He is equally if not more culpable than you are in that regard. Don't let him off the hook for that, and don't shoulder the blame.

It's good to be aware of these dynamics so that you can identify and avoid them in the future, but you're not guilty.