This means continuing to do the things that give you joy and keep you feeling satisfied. Allowing yourself to give up your own sources of joy in order to care for a partner living with depression can lead to resentment or depression within yourself. Not taking care of yourself can also make you less capable of helping them. Newer relationships, or relationships where one partner is still trying to impress the other or mask what they feel are flaws, can mean that spotting symptoms of depression can take a keen eye. To best care for your partner, your relationship, and yourself, it’s a good idea to know and be able to recognize the symptoms of depression.
But you can’t talk someone out of depression, so this can sometimes backfire pretty explosively. Maybe they insist you’re just trying to make them feel better or shut down and stop telling you how they feel. It’s also worth remembering you don’t have to stay home yourself unless you want to keep them company when they need support. Otherwise, sticking with your original plans can help you avoid frustration and resentment, so it’s often a better choice for your own mental health. This disinterest, known as anhedonia, happens commonly with depression. Treatment can help renew their interest and energy, but in the meantime, offer compassion instead of criticism by validating their feelings.
Keep in mind that if you want to have a healthy, fulfilling relationship, you and your partner both need to work on things. You both need to learn to be supported, to offer support, to experience connection when it seems unlikely, to use new language, and to meet each other’s needs as well your own needs. Sometimes it takes a few tries to find what you’re looking for. Don’t allow the rejection to make you fearful of putting yourself out there.
If you’re not comfortable disclosing it up front, which is totally understandable, it it something you should be able to talk about after a little bit of time has gone by in your new relationship. If you find someone like that, it is safe to say that your relationship will be great, and will most likely have a positive impact on your mental health. Being supportive and a part of their treatment will help them cope, and help you to understand it all better. You should keep in mind that you shouldn’t try to fix everything, offer them support, let them vent, but know that this is a process they will have to go through.
Offer hope
On one free dating website, I must have responded to 300+ profiles with ZERO return. So, ghosting…yeah, this was something new for me to experience. IslamicMarriage On the flip side, every single person who contacted me, I replied with a “yeah,let’s explore” or “ no thank you” to not leave them hanging.
It’s often the opposite of what you may do when feeling a rush of anxiety, like being self-critical and self-deprecating. Living with an anxiety disorder or not, there are steps you can take to help relieve dating anxiety. Despite what you read on a profile or what someone has told you about them, they’re unknown to you. Sometimes you might not know much about your new person beyond one or two points of interest. If anxiety feels strong enough to make you second-guess dating altogether, there may be some underlying reasons you feel the way you do. When you live with an anxiety disorder, however, dating can mean more than butterflies in your stomach on the first date.
Her work appears across several publications including The Economist, Bloomberg, Health, Leader’s Edge, WebMD, and KCPT, Kansas City’s public television station. Healthline has strict sourcing guidelines and relies on peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical associations. You can learn more about how we ensure our content is accurate and current by reading our editorial policy.
It steals into people’s lives quietly, without much fanfare, and saps them of joy. It makes it hard to get excited about things, hard to care about your passions, hard to do pretty much anything. Caring for a conversation can also be harder, you may feel it is harder to focus, so paying attention to what others are saying is harder. It also affects your self-esteem, and you can feel like you are worthless, which can impact how you relate to others. Depression impacts pretty much all aspects of your life, and your dating life is no different. It can lead you to become more irritable, which can make it harder for you to be around people, leading you to isolate yourself.
What to Look For in a Partner if You Have Depression
I really like the idea of online dating, if it actually worked. Meaning, you’ve talked for 18 months, you have become dependent on contact from him, and it sounds like he is no longer seeking – or welcoming – that contact from you. If you are in a relationship, then there are expectations for behavior – amount and frequency of contact, availability of each for the other in times of upset, crisis, or celebration… Sharing information about your lives, providing emotional support and friendship, and so on. Additionally, antidepressants quell obsessional thoughts.
People may come to a point where they’re in a relationship but feel unfulfilled. On paid websites women look for the top of the line men and get hurt when they do not like them or they used them and move on. You would probably benefit from doing some things better, but that doesn’t mean you are bad at it or doing anything wrong.
Walking, running or biking together will also give your friend an opportunity to talk in a different, possibly more neutral, environment. Dr. Bates also recommends creative activities like painting, drawing or knitting to elevate the person’s mood. Focus on what the person was like when they were well and remember they can get back there.
To maintain mental health, good self-care practices are key. Perhaps you’ve even noticed they’ve lost interest in things you usually do together—discussing your day, preparing meals, or having sex. You might feel rejected and begin to believe they don’t care about you. It’s understandable to feel disappointed when they spend your long-awaited vacation scrolling through their phone while you see the sights. You might feel hurt when they spend your birthday asleep or can’t make it to dinner with your parents, again.
Being supportive of someone with depression is one of the simplest, yet most meaningful “gifts” that a partner can offer in a relationship. Many people with depression know how hard it can be to find the motivation to do even the smallest tasks. It can be really helpful to have a partner who is encouraging in general — whether they’re just motivating you to get out of bed on a rough morning or they’re pushing you to take the next step with your career. Sometimes, when you’re depressed, it really can take an extra push from somebody else to get you moving in the right direction. If your partner can help push you to be the best version of yourself, that’s a bonus — for you and for the relationship.
Avoidance — coupled with a desire for more control over situations — is a bedrock of anxiety, particularly those who struggle with it in social contexts like dating. When those struggles get ported into the world of virtual courtship, the results are a surprising contradiction of pros and cons that can be difficult but ultimately rewarding when navigated properly. For the perpetually anxious, online dating embodies so much of what makes the internet both a blessing and a curse. It’s important that you don’t try to pose as someone else when looking for a date online. Even if this does increase your chances of success in some instances, you’ll feel guilty about not being truthful and you’ll be starting any potential relationship with a lie. It’s much healthier to be yourself – be honest about your occupation, your interests and your goals.