I’m posting on behalf of a close friend because she is not emotionally able to share this herself right now.
She is in a long-distance marriage and is really struggling emotionally. From what she has shared with me, her husband is emotionally unavailable and often responds with silence during conflicts. Communication is inconsistent, and she is usually left waiting for messages or calls that don’t come.
She feels like she is the only one trying to keep the relationship alive. Instead of feeling like a newly married couple, she feels anxious, lonely, and emotionally drained. She constantly finds herself checking her phone and overthinking everything because of the lack of clarity and emotional connection.
She still loves him and genuinely wants the marriage to work, but she is now at a point of complete emotional exhaustion. She feels she has no more energy left to keep trying in the same way, and at this point she just wants peace and basic emotional stability in her life.
She also doesn’t have a strong support system—very few friends and limited contact with family—so she feels even more isolated in this situation.
To add to this, her husband applied for her visa last year, and she is still waiting for it. She feels stuck in uncertainty because she is already emotionally struggling in the marriage, and the waiting period is making her situation feel even more critical and overwhelming.
We are looking for honest advice. What can someone do in a situation like this when one partner is emotionally unavailable, communication is minimal, and there is also long-term uncertainty due to immigration delays? Is there anything that realistically improves this kind of dynamic, or is emotional withdrawal usually a sign that the relationship is breaking down?
Any advice, especially from people familiar with long-distance marriages or living in the US, would really help.