I recently saw a male client who was upset about his wife’s possible affair. She had been staying out drinking on weeknights until 1 am, leaving him with the kids. For years she had also been under-functioning in the home, so that he had to do most of the childcare and chores. He complained that she would leave her clothes on the floor all the time despite his requests not to, was constantly late for events, and was undependable in many ways.
I listened to his mouth and words make this list of complaints. His eyes welled up throughout the session, but he tried not to cry. He seemed to be struggling to keep his emotions in check. Each time I ask him how he was feeling, he dismissed his emotions or changed the subject or diminished the severity of the situation by saying his wife is “not that bad” or “I don’t want to make it seem like she does this all the time.”
It left me wondering: What are his real emotions, beliefs and thoughts? I’m sure if he observed himself neutrally, he would have had the same question.
Looking at his tears, you might have suspected he was sad. Hearing his words, you might have guessed he was mildly angry. He also said the situation was not that concerning to him, but then he would bring the same complaints up over and over again, so you might conclude he really was concerned about her behaviors. Add in his denials, changing opinions, and vague language and, overall, you would be very confused as to his real feelings and opinions.
When a person has incongruent emotions — crying when he is angry — it is confusing. Both to a therapist and to his partner. As with a stoplight with both red and green lights lit, the partner does not know how to react.
The human brain has a well-developed system for assessing emotions in other people. Our non-verbal skills evolved millions of years before our verbal skills did, so we are much faster and more competent at figuring out what is unsaid.
But when the emotions and body language do not match the words, it leads to confusion at best, arguments and distancing at worse.
People I call “Self-Blamers” in Self-Acceptance Psychology are the most likely to use an incongruent style of expressing themselves. They want to avoid conflict because they are eager for the other person to like them and to avoid conflict. Perhaps it is a style of communication they learned in childhood.
They also dislike experiencing shame, so, in an empathic move, they also try to protect their partner from shaming experiences. So they placate and please in an attempt to decrease conflict.
Or their partner may be an “Other-Blamer” who tends to lash out in anger at any form of criticism, no matter how accurate it is. So the Self-Blamer has learned to be tentative about his criticism, or has learned to moderate his critical words with placating, submissive crying and dissembling.
Unfortunately, this pattern of communicating merely tells the Other-Blamer wife that she has succeeded in dominating her husband, succeeded in keeping him from shaming her, succeeded in keeping him from holding her accountable for her wrongful actions. His submissive style of communicating has alerted her that in some measure he is shouldering the blame for her behaviors.
Ultimately, this pattern of communicating leads to distancing in the marriage. The husband learns it is futile to express his legitimate criticisms so he gives up caring and pulls away emotionally.
The solution is prompt, direct, assertive communication with congruent emotions. If you are angry, be angry and use words, body language, facial expressions, tone of voice and emotions that express that. If you are sad, cry and express your hurt. But don’t use tears to placate a partner and avoid conflict when you are really just angry.
My goal in therapy with this man, and others like him, is to encourage honest assessment of his own feelings and help him gain the assertiveness to express himself promptly and directly. I work to help him understand the roots of his fear of conflict in childhood and in his innate need for approval.
Possibly, if he had better self-acceptance, his need to placate and please his wife would be reduced to a healthy level. His self-image would not depend on her approval.
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