Anonymous wrote:"So some of the posters here are seriously just dismissing depression in an unemployed spouse?"
Well, on one hand, when I first saw that this hasn't been going on very long I though OP was overreacting. But on the other, sometimes we don't know our spouse's true character until we face a crisis, and what OP is seeing is not pretty.
In terms of "depression," if this has been going on since the unemployment started then it seems this is an issue of character, because it does take a bit time for depression to kick in.
1. OP's character isn't very pretty either if she is willing to dump him because he lost a job. Consider that what men feel all the time is what the OP is feeling because most of the time men are expected to be the major bread winner and many if not most of us have SAHs for spouses. We KNOW that the wives say "we love you" but they don't REALLY accept us as a person. They EXPECT that we bring a laundry list of things to the table and lord forbid we are unable to provide any portion of what she has put onto that list for any limited period of time.
2. "it take a bit of time for depression to kick in" I call B.S. Have you ever gong through that experience? I have and it is like getting kicked in the gut. Everything that you are is ripped apart. Most men invest their selves into their career. We closely identify our self worth with our ability to be successful and bring money home for the wife and kids. Women simply do NOT understand.
3. I've btdt.... My ex divorced me very quickly after I lost my job. She was a SAHM and she destroyed everything I (we) had worked for. I is devastating to have the organization with people you've worked with for years who you thought were a team turn their back on you and then to have your wife who supposedly loves you turn her back and on top of that take everything you own.