Although anger has a negative impact on men, I learned that it is often the women and children who suffer the most. “Recently, he has begun venting, to anyone who will listen, about how horrible we all are,” 53 year-old Jennifer wrote me. “If our adult-children aren’t living up to his standards, it is my fault. If he can’t find his socks, he accuses me of misplacing them, just to piss him off. I’m not kidding—that’s what he tells me. What hurts the most is that he has withdrawn all affection. It’s like someone transformed him from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde. I want my husband back!”
This is typical of the thousands of letters and e-mails I have received from women all over the world since The Irritable Male Syndrome: Understanding and Managing the 4 Key Causes of Depression and Aggression was first published by Rodale in 2004. I get the question, why is my husband so angry?, a lot. More and more women are feeling the pain of living with an angry male and want help for themselves, their children, and for the man they all love.
Anger is an increasingly serious problem in our society today according to Martin E.P. Seligman, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and former President of the American Psychological Association. “Out-of-hand anger ruins many lives,” he says. “More, I believe, than schizophrenia, more than alcohol, more than AIDS. Maybe even more than depression.” Seligman’s research also shows that when couples fight, it can damage their children, often in lasting ways.
Anger Manifests in Different Forms
Paul Ekman, Ph.D., one of the world’s experts on emotions and author of Emotions Revealed, says that anger is expressed in many ways. “There is a range of angry feelings, from slight annoyance to rage. There are not just differences in the strength of angry feelings, but also differences in the kind of anger felt. Indignation is self-righteous anger, sulking is passive anger; exasperation refers to having one’s patience tried excessively. Revenge is a type of angry action usually committed after a period of reflection about the offense.”
We often perceive anger as a negative emotion that can damage people and their relationships, yet anger can also lead to emotional and spiritual growth. The practices readers will learn in the book can deepen and enrich their ability to be more loving to their partner and to others. In his book Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames, Buddhist monk and peace activist Thich Nhat Hahn says, “In the past, we were allied in making each other suffer more, allied in the escalation of anger. “Now we want to be allied in taking good care of our sorrow, our anger, and our frustration. We want to negotiate a strategy for peace.”
Stressed Out Men Become Angry
Most of us recognize that stress is increasing in our lives. We notice it as we drive to work, when we feel rushed and overwhelmed, when we come home to relax, but find more and more things at home that demand our attention. In my years counseling men and women, I have found that men and women often express stress in their lives differently. Women often “act in” their stress and feel sad and depressed. Men, on the other hand, often “act out” their stress and become irritable and angry.
Women often internalize their pain and blame themselves for their problems. Men often externalize their pain and blame the women in their lives. When I counsel men, I often hear a litany of complaints that often focus on their wives. After listening and empathizing I begin to help them recognize that it isn’t their “wife” that is the problem, but rather their “life” that is out of balance. I also help them see that the stress isn’t just coming from their internal state of being, but also results from the world around us.
We are living at a time of major earth changes. We have moved beyond the era of peak oil and are reaching limits of all our natural resources, what author Richard Heinberg describes as “peak everything.” Our economy is changing rapidly and more and more people are out of work or worried about losing their jobs. Global warming is real and we are all feeling the effects of a planet that has an increasingly “high fever.”
Healing Ourselves, Healing Our Planet
Most of us are tired of war and would like human beings to get along with each other. But it seems that wars go on and on. The truth is that we can’t stop wars until we learn to stop fighting with our mates. If we can’t learn to get along with the one we love, how can we expect to get along with people we don’t know and don’t understand? The good news is that we are learning how to become more peaceful partners. We are learning the skills of non-violent communication. We are learning how to listen with a more open heart, to put ourselves in the shoes of the other person.
Here’s a little exercise that developed by the folks at the Institute of HeartMath and it’s guaranteed to reduce stress in your life and help you feel more loving:
- Put your attention on the area around your heart. Place your hand there to feel the life pulsing through you.
- Imagine that with each breath you breathe in you are taking in healing energy through your heart and with each breath you breathe out you send that loving energy out to someone you’d like to feel more loving towards.
- Think of a time when you felt deep gratitude. It could be a memory of one of your children, or when you first fell in love, or the time you were overwhelmed by the beauty of a sunset.
- Continue to breathe while you hold this memory of gratitude.
Think what it would mean if everyone in the world did this exercise three or four times a day. Are you willing to start? It’s easy and you have nothing to lose but your anger.
You can also take the Quiz to learn more.
What do you think? What tools have been effective for you in dealing with your, or your mate’s, anger?
Greetings Jed,
I have followed your musings, ideas and approaches to the male condition over the years and much appreciate the insight I receive in respect of the self and the process of evolving. I’m a 61 year old Australian male who has displayed a fare share of anger over the years and who now finds himself single and embracing the company of a dog and a cat (no woman). Notwithstanding the social marginalisation that occurs with aging in countries like Australia and the US I think a pressure that is often overlooked in respect of contemporary men is the pressure that arises in respect of the women’s movement and its pursuit of social equity. While I laud the notion of equity between the sexes I do believe that the cohesion of women has left men displaced and disoriented. Women are superb at engagement amongst themselves while men tend to more insular and alone which has allowed for a decline in self esteem and self respect. If the notion of social equity was balanced by the notion of interdependence as between the sexes and that the achievement of a common and symbiotic plane was the common pursuit I believe that we, men and women, would achieve greater harmony both as individuals and as a community. The often needful but unexplained expression of male violence would I believe recede as that harmonic is achieved.
Cheers,
Mikul
Mikul,
Thanks for the note and appreciate your interest and support of my work over the years. I have found that women banded together (and yes, its more natural for women to connect emotionally than it is for guys) in order to get and give support for the challenges they face in life. I think men need to do the same. That’s why I’ve been in a men’s group that has been meeting regularly for 34 years. As men give and get support, they develop the security and sense of self that enables them to reach out and connect with women as equals. If a man isn’t comfortable with himself and other men, he will often connect with women and act like a boy, either angry and aggressive or needy and passive.
I’m planning to develop a support network for men, worldwide, who want to heal themselves, develop passionate relationships, and find their life-calling in support of humankind. Stay tuned for more information.
I agree that men often internalize their pain and anger comes out instead. Some gentle caring digging, coupled with understanding and space is what I use to diffuse these situations. Usually I let him rage and try to withhold all judgement. Once he calms down, then I ask gently what the real issue is, by using some careful mirroring statements like “I hear that you’re angry. Did you want to discuss the reasons why?” If that doesn’t really work, then some space, even a short trip to the restroom on my part can break the cycle. I’m not talking about avoiding, or storming off, just a little second for everyone to reframe and calm down can work wonders.
Elizabeth, Good suggestions. Its important to stay involved, but set good limits and not
get caught up in blaming or shaming, either him or you. It sounds like you’ve learned to do
that and to keep love flowing, even in the face of an angry man. Accepting the anger, and then
doing deeper usually uncovers feelings of hurt, fear, guilt, and shame, and then finally the love that is wanting to be expressed.
Jed I wish to thank you for this forum. In your quiz I answered a # 9 out of 10. I just wish to say something here that I am really embarrassed to say out loud. I am 58 years old and my wife is a very strong feminist. I love her very much, but I have just recently admitted to myself that I wish she was this strong equal partner in the world, but at home when its just us two I long for her to be more like a ’50s wife. I can’t open a door for her because that means she is weak. Can’t ask her for a cup of coffee because she is not my maid. I can’t compliment her body because thats sexualizing her. Plus much more.. we have great marriage when it comes to intellectual issues, politics,religous topics and we enjoy golf together. We have been together for 38 years, now alone at home I was longing for some touch time..not necessarily sexually just caring for each other hugs,holding hands etc. for whatever time we have left in this corporeal form we possess. Perhaps I was just born 20 years too late.
Phil, Thanks for your honest sharing. No need to feel embarrassed. I think we are all wanting to fee” greater sense of love and connection in our relationship. I know what you mean about a “feminist wife.” I’ve felt some of those feelings. I think what we really want isn’t a return to the sexism of the 50s, but a move ahead to time when we can be ourselves, feel our power as men and women, but also to acknowledge our vulnerability and dependency on each other. I used to think that dependency was a bad thing. Now I know that we’re human. Humans depend on each other. And those of us fortunate enough to have a partner need to learn to go deeper, open more fully to our own vulnerability, let ourselves be touched and held and caressed. Keep the faith. It can happen. Thanks for being part of our community here.
i am married to my husband it has been 8yrs and i can’t well won’t approach him in a serious way…to get help and i know its way over due. we have two kids boy and girl…..please should i leave him? and for us to go marriage counsel that i will get blow up for too!
need help….need some brave to tell him stop and see what hes doing
scared and lonely wife and mom!
Vanessa, Thanks for commenting here. Too many women keep silent, even though they are in great pain. Men also suffer, but when they’re down and depressed, some of them take their pain out on others. Since many men who need help don’t seek it, I’ve developed a counseling approach where I can help women help themselves and at the same time help the man, even when they feel that he is unwilling to listen. If you would like to consider counseling, contact me. I can tell you more.
Hi Jed. I would be interested. Interestingly enough I am in the same boat as Vanessa. Two kids, boy and girl, and 8 years of marriage. Fear of his anger keeps me quiet. I tend to text him when I want to talk and express my feelings that way telling him that his anger and reactions scare me .
I did a quiz and my husband is a 10!
He is very irritable and can go from total happiness to anger in one second. I feel I am walking on egg shells all day. We had been married 17 years, so he should trust me by now, but he doesn’t trust me and accuses me of lying for no reason. He is ok with me working out of town, but he doesn’t want me to go for dinner or anywhere else with coworkers. I keep insisting that he should meet them, but he prefers to accuse me and pick fights about it. He get jealous of my female friends too, and get obsessed checking my emails and messages, and burst in a tantrum if I tell him to stop.
He can be great, but in a second turns into a monster. I can’t live in a roller coaster anymore, and I talked to him about it many times. According to him he is a happy guy and does nothing wrong, so he refuses to do counselling, but tells me he can’t imagine life without me. It’s very confusing and makes me feel guilty, but I can’t live like this. Last week was his last burst, and he didn’t talk to me ever since. I want to leave him, but I’m scare of his reaction. We have two teen boys that are seeing all this, so I want it over! Is there any way I can avoid confrontation?
Julie, Men act out and get jealous when they feel insecure. There are ways to connect more deeply without compromising your own life. It may take some counseling to get you two back on track, but it may be a better choice than confrontations or endings. If you want to explore counseling with me, drop me a note and I can give you more details (be sure and respond to my spamarrest filter if its the first time you’ve written).
Jed (Jed@Menalive.com)
I have been married for 27 years and have noticed that my husbands anger comes and goes in cycles. It seems as though every 4-5 months he goes through a horrible period of 1-2months, where he takes everything out on me. Before the children all moved, as far away as they could, they also were fair game. Initially I would try to help him but he became extremely verbally abusive so I simply started to (self preservation) listen, take it and offer no comment. If I commented it generally became much worse, and lasted much longer. He will no longer sleep in the same room with me because I make noises. It has been 5 years now. Just when I am about ready to pack up and leave his cycle changes and he becomes my friend again. I have thought long and hard about what, if anything, I could do differently to change this horrible cycle he goes through. My children all want me to leave I just want a normal marriage.
My husband fights,being rude to me,gets angry with me often.never respect me
I dont whats wrong with him,i do not know what to do.i love him please help me
Ashu,
Everyone should ask for and be given respect even if they disagree. If you aren’t getting that and are having trouble working things out, you may need a good counselor who can help. I do counsel by phone as well as in my office here in California and there may be someone good close to where you live.
Hello Mr.Jed,
I was just reading your reply and I really need counsel and by phone is what I have been wanting please send my the phone number.
Daphne S
My husband and been married for 3 years. One thing I learned is give your husband space! Show him you love him even when hes angry! And show him its ok to express yourself and let him know how much you appreciate him. Also tell him you dont expect him to perfect and hold his hand and hold him. That all it takes. A man has a lot of responsbility to take care of the family. Its tough. Dont nag him. Do your roles as a wife. Stop complaining and show love anyways. But keep reassuring him everything will be ok and your be there for him. I know you might think you dont deserve to treated bad but thats how men handle stress. Encourage him to get with the guys but dont let his anger pull u down or let it effect you.
Hahahahahaha! You are hilarious!
My current husband is very irritated all the time, and he snaps easily. He can be happy go Lucky and then the next minute snap over really little minor things. I am brunt of his anger.he is critical and constantly stating everything I do “wrong”, and if I do it different than what he states, he gets enraged almost. I try not to indulge him, i try to walk away and leave him alone. I try to be calm and rational. We have talked candidly and he realizes these behaviors and doesn’t understand why he snaps. He understands its not healthy and says he cannot control it and can’t say when or what will trigger him. He said money stresses him out, and though we are a touch behind, we are no where close to broke. I’m at a loss on what to do. My ex husband was mentally, verbally and physically abusive with rage issues. It took me a long time to heal and be strong and whole. I don’t want this to happen again. My current husband wasn’t always this way. Its been since we had our 2 year old
I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to set a healthy boundary with him..Just very critical and sometimes manipulative. He will use guilt to try and make me do what he wants or becomes mean. He will say things because he know they will hurt my feelings. I don’t know what to do.
Jessie, These are difficult issues and I understand your concern. Often men have a vague sense that their irritability and anger are not appropriate, but they don’t know what to do. Their fear and confusion often gets put on their wives and partners so that any expressions of help may be set him off. I’ve developed a program for the women to both help them help themselves and also how best to work with a man who is experiencing irritable male syndrome. Feel free to contact me if you’d like help or more information.
Thank you for your article! My husband has alot of anger towards his mom and his father, since he cheated on his mom and walked out on them when he was very young. He has physically and mentally taken his anger out on me when i have done nothing wrong. I guess since we live together he thinks its ok to hurt me. He has these periods when hes fine and happy then he just snaps again.he has even been arrested before since his anger got out of control. I feel like i am just loosing my heart and soul because i keep being herew him trying to understand him. I am 23 and hes 26. He shouldnt have to be so angry all the time..he has also naughty chatted with people on skype, which i consider cheating, and he just cant stop sex talking other men when im at work…im running out of patience w him.
Renee,
I know how difficult these things can be. Anger and distrust can ruin a relationship in short order. It sounds like you are recognizing that your husband’s issues are related to some of the trauma he experienced growing up. This is often the case. Yet, that’s not an excuse to take his anger out on you or to be seeking out sexual connections on the internet. Clearly you both could use some good help and counseling. I’d recommend you ask him if he’d be willing to go together, but that you want to go even if he’s not ready. Let him know you love him, but you can’t continue to live this way and you believe he also wants things to get better.
There’s like someone good close by where you live. I also counsel people by phone from all over the world. If you’d like to contact me, feel free.
Hi, please note that women do not want to be ridiculed, verbally or physically abused, treated like a child, embarrassed in front of family and friends or feel unappreciated or unloved. Husbands are supposed to be the protector and priest of the home in which the wives should not feel like they are threat because they make more money or more educated. Wake up or there will always be someone else who can appreciate a good wife.
Hi, please note that women do not want to be ridiculed, verbally or physically abused, treated like a child, embarrassed in front of family and friends or feel unappreciated or unloved. Husbands are supposed to be the protector and priest of the home in which the wives should not feel like they are threat because they make more money or more educated. Wake up or there will always be someone else who can appreciate a good wife.
I have been married for three years to my husband, he blames me for all that goes wrong in the house. If a child makes a mistake like he poopoed in the trouser that`s my fault or if i have to read a bed time story for our toddler that is one big mistake. When he snaps, he start telling me off in front of our toddler and that hurts me a lot, a child wants to play games with his laptop or camera for pictures he questions if the child dont have enough toys. For me i know the child wont damage the stuffs and he is just curious and needs to be given the opportunity to even explore cause you never really knows what talents the child has. I am even expecting and when he is stressed he takes it out on me especially through the phone. I am exhausted and makes me wonder if i made the right choice to be with this man. I also spend alot of money on the household, children and contribute to the rent. I at times asks myself what type of men i have married.
Joy, Its good to examine what’s going wrong when things aren’t going right. It may be you two are not the right partners for each other. On the other hand it may mean that you’re both under stress and expressing it in ways that are not helpful. When we’re stressed we often, unconsciously, fall back on behaviors that we may have learned growing up in dysfunctional families. The result is a downward spiral until the relationship looks like a trap and we just want to get out. In counseling I help people sort out what is really going on and what they can do. If I can help let me know.
we lost our daughter in 2011. my husband has problems with older brother he talks to himself all the time angry he acts like he hates me what do i do
Connie, This is a sign that the results of the stress have not yet healed. He still needs help to resolve the pain. I often work with women to teach them how to take care of themselves, while helping the man, even when he is resistant to help.
Jane Ashley
My life is back !!! After eight years of marriage, my husband left me with 3 kids. I felt that my life was about to end, and was falling apart. I contacted you and after I explained my problem. In just three days, my husband came back to us and I and my children love and show apologize for all the pain you have to take the family. We solved our problems, and we are even happier than before’re the best caster Dr. Akim really appreciate the love spell that you cast for me to get the man I loved back my life I will continue sharing people’s testimonies about thanks to the good work, again Dr. Akim, if any problem you can contact with this man for help that is always there in his temple to help solve your problem contact Email is (aidamenbordgreat@yahoo.com) thanks for your time. .God Bless
Why would you create a guidance site and a stream of comments w/ o allowing share functionality.
Whatever helpful advice you are offering cannot be shared with those relevant to the situation
It is an easy and inexpensive way to grow your outreach and business
Jeannie, happy to learn how to help people share content. Please advise, here or email me at Jed@MenAlive.com
Help!! My husband is cranky and rageful up to 24 hours a day!! He suffers with type 2 diabetes. He takes all sorts of medications for this and pills to sleep at night. I especially am concerned when we are driving in the car and he blows his top at “rude” drivers. I fear that sometime he is going to go off on someone and they could hit him or worse. I can’t talk to him about anything serious, even in a gentle way. His angry moments raise my blood pressure. He can scream at me at times. I am walking on a bed of nails with him. Please help us. Thank you.
Georgia, This is a good indicator that he needs help. Often taking the IMS quiz on my site http://www.MenAlive.com can help a man recognize that this is a problem. Other times helping a woman to understand what is going on and being supportive in a way that is self protective and also healing can help. If you need more support or information feel free to contact me.
MARRIAGE RESTORED! My wife pack out of the house with my kids and said she was no longer interested in me anymore. She said all the abusive words and said am not a good husband because I wasn’t working, instead I was wasting her time, so i contacted this Strong spell caster DR OLO’R’UN a week ago after reading Miracles about his spell over the net, I consulted him for a love spell, crying not knowing what to do. He told me that he will cast a lover spell for me so my wife will come back to me. After 4 days of casting the spell, my wife call me apologizing and begging me to come home. Am thanking DR OLO’R’UN for the Faith and Trust he showed me. if any body is out there passing through any relationship difficulties should kindly contact him via email: OLORUNODUDUWASPIRITUALTEMPLE @ G M AIL. CO M
The last four years since my husband came home from Rehab after MRSA caused his spinal cord to be partially severed and crushed. All myself his father and our friends have asked is his patience to try and think about how it came to the life he lead Pre MRSA and how to let him into things slowly over time and we could stop being so scared that he was going to take his rights back by beating us into the ground like it was the last 8 years before MRSA over what he had rights to, and I do mean litterally beating us into the ground, Five months before the MRSA infection in 2009 He had planed to take the first vacation with me in our 27 year marriage, He said at the time we were still not married and I was nothing but a charity case bilking him out of his life.
At the time he had trained a young man to take his place on that vacation, the younger man had only 2 years seniority to my husbands 34 years, The young mans father was a good friend of his fathers. He Had a little problem coming of a white shotgun wedding, in Early may and when his bride was due was the first opportunity for a vacation slot for a honey moon. My husband had put our double berth into his laptop case with his passport and the boarding pass’s and had told me in February if I laid my hands on any thing in that case he would break both my arms, He was taking the first two weeks of his seven week vacation time for the express, Three of those weeks were personal time that was his by contract. By contract as of the first of January his vacation time jumped to five weeks and his personal time he had never used went to 4 weeks with his 35 years seniority and everyone knew, at that point there was nothing any one could do if he wanted his time off any time he wanted he could say he wanted off and just walk off the job.
So that May a plan was made to help the young man have his honey moon and get my husband to just stay one more time out of the spring and summer vacation times. This was going to be the last time it was done, when me and his father took his pasports and reservations and acted as agent to cancel his trip that May, his father said just to be fair he would make up the cancelation fee out of his own pocket and handed me the cancelation check of 6354 dollars t hold until Christmas night when my husband was getting a surprise of five weeks in St Croix I was arranging starting on January the second I Was even imagining he christmas evening he was getting that reservation instead of the usual ten he got as his Christmas gift from me and the two sandwiches at his work gate.
To try and reason with him about not going on the Europe trip and being nice about letting the younger man go we Arranged to have his Union send two representatives the Chaplin and his steward and the use of a TSA office to explain why we did this and the need for him to understand he really left us no choice but to handle his life like we had the last 27 years it was just seven months and he would get his time out of the plant of almost a month and a half We had a surprise at that time for him he did not need to be angry over not going again this time, He Threw me across the TSA office getting the check back out of my shoulder bag and took everything I could use for money on the trip, I could not feelm anything but pain out of my shoulder and As His father was beging him just to pick up his Passport from TSA afterwe were in the air just 30 minutes and he would have it back my husband was ripping his pockets out strangling him to death. IT took seven men to pry his fingers of his throat, as TSA took him out in cuffs to go to work, I was crying please just look for something to find joy in we would talk at length when we came back in two weeks. I would talk to him then about what we had planed instead, We got home to no pickup and an arrest warrant for theft even though he was given the entire amount back. I served two months in county for the theft and the National union took over the locals operation for a year because there was more than just my husbands rights that had been stepped on for the needs in society. I was not even allowed back in my home and had to stay at his fathers until labor day after getting out of jail. My mother told me she did not want me home because I had not obeyed gods law with my husband. . for the entire length of our marriage, She said any thing my husband did was what I deserved.
I was allowed back in after ACL surgery on my shoulder to no husband at home , I know three times he showed up at his fathers to break things on his property because he would not come out and face him. Then In October his immune system compromised due to depression that’s also been blamed on me and his family He was on an operating Table getting his spine fully fused after a MRSA Abscess.
We now have to contend with his resentments and anger over the way he was forced and blackmailed out of his life as he says, For four years now we have retreated at every turn trying to get him to just slow down and understand things from 1982 till today were not meant its just the way things needed to happen and if he had been willing just to take a different way that everyone else, and not been so dam stubborn about his rights. He might not have had a life like he was alloiwed.
In 2013 when he came home from Rehab I had spent 12 years usually in tears trying to get his cooperation, without somebody bleeding and broken or another promise made to get him to find away around his wants compared to the needs of others.
m In 2012 I started seeing an old boyfriend to hear I was something besides a worthless s*** and community girlfriend and told to please drop dead. When he caught me the night I was intending to be my last with him he hurt both of us badly I wasswatted across the living room for trying to stop the beating my husband was putting on him, His Scull was fractured for the humiliaition of sweeping my husbands cane and my husband threw it like a spear with the Ice spike uncovered My husband was taken out of the house in cuffs with the officers saying they did not think my husband was intending to let him stay alive. They really did not blamer him after hearing he was assaulted first. The beating however was such that it showed a uncontroled rage so they took him into a stress center. Two weeks latter I was Begging my husband not to force me to have sex. I was offering 100 to meet any where he wanted after an event I was going to work out a timetable to be let into traditions in the family, I was crying that His own defiance to us caused what happened before the loss of feeling in his legs. I said please just a reset to 1985 and we could get it right this time over two years, Leave everyone satisfied, He sauiid he did not even catrre if I was satisfied, He was going to take what I had denied that evening and then if his father and his friends interfered with him any longer he would decide weather or not they stayed alive. As far as he was concerened we owed him 31 years of his life returned and if he had to he was taking it out of our hides. HE raped me that evening before the event I was supposed to go to begging that things did not have to be this way something could be worked out even a call girl if he wanted. I have tried to find some wayto stop him taking all things he wanted since 1985 the last three years,
Christmas when he would not take 4000 from his father to do any place he wanted to go as long as he was not home Christmas and let everyone have a stress free Christmas, When Herefused I tried just to go a different way, I made his dinner plate up and requested to let at least the dinner be without stress he could eat out in his workshop out of the cold, I said just come to the back door and get seconds if he wanted He ground everything into my face on the plate, yelling he was not a dam field hand from the old south getting Charity from the Massas wife. it was his house, his table and his food and by god I had no right to even ask him to leave his home over dinner. Twenty minutes latter most my friends and his family were leaving hungry under the Barrel of a 30-30 lever action and all were told to never return including his own father.
This last year saw the final person that could reason with my husband die. His mother, We went to the funeral home for the Memorial service and to keep tensions down his sister set up av private service for my husband an hour after the main one. Just in case he showed for the main the put a friend of the family outside to tell my husband to come back in an hour, My husband when he was stopped with just a simple hand on his chest told the friend to get his hand off him he was going in and he did not see an army backing him, So get out of his way. The friend pushed and was slammed off concrete steps and walls and his arm was shattered. My husband went in to a totally shocked group and sat in the oldest sons spot and looked at his father who was in tears over the way things were going, was told one word his mother would not have the only funeral that week.
Yesterday we spent Thanksgiving with my mother, sister and her husband up where we are at now My mother will be here until after the first of the year, My sister and her husband are going to see her Daughter In Osaka next week so they are leaving By Heilo to The Airport and they will come back on the 23 of December.
My sister in law want us to come back to the mid west after the trouble the last year. She wants a peace like my mother in law wanted before she died made. My husband wont consider going ther1200 miles or even down to canyon home, He’s staying at this remote cabin Even decorated a tree yesterday for our nearly three year old He’s got Christmas already arranged
Please help me. My husband gets angry over the smallest things. Especially when he thinks I have not listened to him. He lashes out in rage. Says mean and hurtful things. Never apologizes for his behavior. Always wears this tough shield and anything it takes to prove that I caused his anger outburst so it’s my fault. Also gives me silent treatment to get me to give in. He never wants to talk about the issue. He never wants to hear my side of the story. I don’t know how to break this cycle. He is the one with anger issue and then giving silent treatments and I am the one suffering and making up for everything. This time I am not responding to this silent treatment and it’s been weeks he hasn’t utter a word.
Ippy, Often we get caught in old ruts and keep playing over the same territory without really communicating. Often when we’re angry and don’t know why, we blame someone else. We really need to connect, but our behavior pushes people away. Sometimes we subconsciously want to create distance, but don’t know how to do it in a positive way. I’ve found that women sometimes need to learn to find better ways to deal with male anger. It sounds like you haven’t yet found the right ways that work to improve things. One thing your husband seems to be saying is he doesn’t feel like you are listening to him. What do you think he’s trying to tell you?