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Respect - confused husband

Respect is a term that my wife seems throw in my face whenever we get into a dispute. I know I am not a perfect man, but also she is not a perfect woman. But I feel that this fact should not open the door for unlogical and irrational behavior. Whenever we engage in a disagreement, she seems to believe that screaming and yelling and generally acting like she has completely no self-control is more than acceptable and goes right off the handle when I inform her of this. I believe that if there is a issue that is worth disagreeing on, then being the two adults, (and I stress the word adults),we must sit down in a calm manner and work it out. Losing ones self control has, and is creating such a huge mess of scrambled emotions, that the original issue was lost. What can a person do in this situation? I've sat back and allowed the "venting" process occur, yet still this does not create anything useful! I am patient, but there is an end for everything

From: cindy

Losing control of your emotions and anger that comes from it when having a disagreement is not healthy. Your wife is reacting this way because she's either very dominant as a female or this is a behaviour she has been accustomed to as a child growing up. Her parents probably solved problems in this manner. She herself doesn't realize this, but by you telling and pointing this out to her and she still continues this behaviour, I would tell her to seek counselling to control her anger which is obvious she is feeling. I'm no expert on this subject, but my guess is that when she finally excepts that she has a problem and does something about it, the more content you will be with your relationship. On a nother note. If she wishes to ignore this problem and it is truly interfering with your relationship, I would consider leaving. If children are involved she's just showing them that it's ok to react this way and your kids will end up dealing with problems the same way she is. I hope this helps you a little. Let me know how things go.

From: Bernd

Us guys seem to have more of monopoly on handling disagreements without resorting to “unlogical and irrational behavior”. Or so it seems, and appearances here are very, very deceiving.

Think about it a sec. We have a treasure chest of emotions that let us convey things in a way our monotone voices simply can’t on our own. Ever said “I love” you in a flat, expressionless voice? It doesn’t carry much weight, and is very unconvincing. When the joy, magic, and love we feel inside comes out with those words - in a warm embrace, a soft kiss, a twinkling smile - the words have IMPACT. They reach us right down to our soul, and feel solid.

It’s ironic how willing we are to accept those emotions - without calling someone “irrational” - and yet we consider anger and yelling irrational. I used to do the “logical” thing too. Except now I believe my approach was anything but logical. It was like trying to see the whole picture with only one eye open.

When your wife is yelling, she is telling you something very important, and yelling because it’s the only way she knows of getting her point across. She is very, very pissed off. When you tell her she’s being “irrational”, the message she gets is that you’re not interested in how she really feels. Imagine your reaction inside if she told you she didn’t give a damn about what you “thought”. See the mirror?

I suspect you have just a difficult time expressing your own feelings, as you have hearing her express hers. The mind is a wonderful thing, but it can serve as a prison as easily as it can serve as a freedom gate. One of the things that attracted Lynda to me was how “calm” I was. She was the “emotional” one. I thought I was calm, and level-headed too. It was an illusion. What was really happening inside me was I had walled off my emotions long ago - they were too confusing, overwhelming, and dangerous to deal with. Better not to have them. Except my body and soul kept rebelling, because shutting down my emotions kept me half-alive, and dying a little day by day.

Here’s the twist. Your wife will become a lot less” emotional” when you become a lot more comfortable with letting her be “emotional”. My guess is that you’ll only be able to be more comfortable with her emotions, when you really begin exploring how much you’ve shut your own down. Therapy, and self-help books can help you in this exploration, if it’s something you decide to do.

I used to feel panic inside whenever Lynda got angry, because I had a lot of difficulty feeling my OWN anger. Now she can yell, scream, and rant and rave when she wants. It feels comfortable (and she’s needed to on a few occasions; I’m not the easiest man in the world to live with!). Vice versa, I’ve become more comfortable letting my own anger “hang all out” when I need to. My newfound comfort isn’t because “I love her”; it’s because anger is a natural part of both of us, and there’s a lot of old bottled up anger we still need to release. Why would I want to keep it, or to do anything that doesn’t help her let it go? That’s logical!:)

Hope this helps a bit.

From: For confused husband

This one is for you confused husband whom you feel your wife is being irrational. I can speak only for myself that I have been in the same situation. Obviously there is something going on in the relationship where communication is involved. Your wife seems to be trying to reach you in other ways where talking doesn't come across to you. Either she feels that you don't hear her any other way. I'm sure her emotions are getting in the way of her expressing her feelings to you. I don't believe any woman or man wants to yell at there spouse. And finger pointing isn't the way to resolve this situation either. I am sure there's two sides to every argument. But I agree that yelling will only make matters worse if it persist. A disagreement among spouses and arguing can be healthy if done in a healthy way.

One thing to consider is taking time with your spouse to really talk and be open to one another and respecting each others needs. We all have needs for one another. I have seen and heard so many situations about spousal situations. But when we go through it ourselves its not fun. I have a small example on one marriage; this couple loved each other dearly. He was a professional working in the field of helping the community with there problems and his wife had a relatively good job, too..... the problem was that the husband would continuously put down his wife down, make fun of her and many times didn't even realize what he was doing. He thought he was being humorous in some aspects but what was happening there was the wife's selfworth was become so low and it eventually built up inside and when a minor disagreement came up well it escalated to a major one cause deep down she was hurting inside about being made fun of yesterday or last week. So when this topic was brought up among the spouses there line on communication started to open. The problem was the husband continued to do it and wasn't respected his wife's wishes. He would continue the put downs and then the wife would lose her temper. So there is a tug and pull there.

They both need to learn how to handle each others own behavior. Respect your wife and your husband. Don't put them down, try to build them up. If belittling persists in a relationship, and talking doesn't help well its sad to say that it won't work and it will only go into another relationship until this is really looked at. I would hate to see a marriage melt away from painful words that can be corrected so easy with warm encouraging words to each. Good luck I believe it will all work out.

From: The Confused Husband...is still confused

Hey, thanks for your input. The situation has calmed down,though I expect another like the other to erupt soon enough. I've thought and thought about how things are, and I've come to the conclusion that life is like a bleeding ulcer, ya gotta take care of it, know what I mean? Though at times one has to ignore the pain the in the gut and get with it, and just live life as it was meant to be. We could spend a lifetime thinking and wondering of ways to get along, but the way I see it, if we don't, oh well. I can just image how many lives have been wasted away being married to the wrong person, isn't it just ghastly to think of the eternity they've spent hating each other? I would rather not join them in their eternal state of emotional agony! I am taking the time to enjoy my wife's company, if she don't want to, she can stay home and the Children and me can enjoy our own company. Life is oh so short, I've only begun to realize this and it saddens me to think that my wife hates me for reasons unknown. I ask her, and she just seems to believe that yelling in my face will make everything better. Not! How did Twisted Sister say it, "We're Not Gonna Take, No We're Not Gonna Take it, We're Not Gonna Take It Anymore!" Time is running out, we must enjoy now...


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