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5 Signs Your Marriage Is Turning Into More of a Roommate Situation

Experts say shorter conversations, constant busyness, less affection, and stonewalling can all signal growing emotional distance.

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Most marriages don’t fall apart all at once. It usually starts with smaller things that are easy to explain away. You talk less. Touch less. Plans get made around each other instead of together. For a while, it can look like stress, work, kids, or one bad month. Then you realize you’ve been living with someone who’s been mentally gone for a while.

Figs O’Sullivan, a licensed marriage and family therapist and founder of Empathi, points to the pursue-withdraw cycle as one of the strongest predictors of relationship dissatisfaction and divorce. One person keeps reaching for connection while the other pulls farther away. From inside the marriage, it can take a while to even see that’s what’s happening.

1. He’s Physically There but Mentally Somewhere Else

Family law attorney Anna Blood told Scary Mommy that an early sign is when “connection gives way to coexistence.” You still talk, but it’s mostly about the logistics of the day: who’s driving where, what’s........

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