Feeling Invalidated by Your Partner?

HOW TO STOP INVALIDATING YOUR PARTNER IN THREE EASY STEPS

Takeaways: Emotional invalidation can be the root cause of so many relationship issues, from feeling distant and disconnected, to arguing all the time. And most of us don’t even realize when we’re invalidating our partners! Learning to validate each other’s feelings — even when they don’t “make sense” — helps you both feel more accepted, understood, and loved within your relationship.

Hi there. Are you reading this “advice from a couples counselor” article because your partner just forwarded it to you, as a way of attempting to communicate that you invalidate feelings and that they would like this to change? First of all, sorry, but second of all… never fear. I’m the couples therapist in your corner. This one is going to boomerang nicely, and wind up working out in your favor. Promise.

I’m going to let you in on a little secret that your partner — possibly not having read this article themselves before impulsively texting it to you on the headline alone — might not know yet: We all invalidate our partners accidentally. I’ll bet you a cookie that you probably feel invalidated by them from time to time too. Am I right? Yes? Welcome to relationships.

Emotional Invalidation

How do I know that you’re feeling invalidated sometimes too? First of all, I’ve been a marriage counselor and relationship coach for a long time. It is extremely rare to find a couple where one person has *actually* been exclusively responsible for all the hurt feelings and conflict. (Except in the tiny percentage of couples counseling cases that I could count on one hand where the hurt-inducing partner has actually been a diagnosable sociopath and/or narcissist. But I will save that tale for another day).

Secondly, I’ve also been married for a long time to someone I adore and would never want to hurt on purpose. And I’m a marriage counselor!  I should know better! And To. This. day. I still do things that accidentally invalidate my husband and make him feel bad. More than once have I had to apologize for making him feel like I don’t care, despite the fact that I love him very much. 

But I’m working on it, and it’s better than it used to be. You can do the same. Here’s how:

Step One: Let’s Define “Invalidate”

First of all, let’s talk a little about what “invalidation”  means. When you invalidate someone, you basically make them feel like you a) don’t understand them or their feelings or b) if you do understand, you don’t care. The impact of this original invalidation will then generally make your partner swing one of two ways, towards either hostility or withdrawal and emotional shut down. Neither of those are good!

In order to not invalidate feelings anymore you need to be self-aware of when it’s happening, and what you’re doing to cause it. This is the hard part, because almost nobody is intentionally trying to make their partner feel diminished or unimportant when it happens. If you called an invalidating person on it in the moment, they usually get really defensive and start sputtering about how “that’s not what I meant” and protesting that their intentions were good. 

Again, except in the case of narcissists (see link above) this is true. Invalidation is generally unintentional. So, no need to beat yourself up if you’ve been unintentionally hurting someone you love. But you do need to take responsibility for how our actions impact others. We all do.

It’s also possible that you’re invalidating yourself, as many of us do. If you ever find yourself asking, “Are my feelings valid, or am I overreacting?” then you may struggle to validate your own feelings, which can make it more difficult for you to validate your partner’s emotions.

So let’s get familiar with what invalidation actually looks like so that you can become more self aware. Emotional invalidation comes in many flavors, and can happen in both subtle and dramatic ways. 

Let’s review.

Types of Emotional Invalidation

Now, take a deep breath and non-defensively read through the following descriptions of “emotional invalidators” and see if you can spot yourself. See if you can spot the invalidating behaviors your partner uses. (They are in there, I’m sure). But again, the hard part is recognizing your own. Bonus points if you can think of other ways you might be invalidating sometimes that I haven’t put down here. The possibilities are limitless!

But here are some of the “usual suspects.”

Inattentive Invalidators: These types of invalidators don’t pay attention when their partner is talking about something important. (C’est moi! I totally do this.)

Example of Inattentive Invalidation in Action:

Them: “I had a really hard day at work today. I think I might be getting sick.”

You (And by “you” I mean “me”): “I was just thinking that it would be fun to go to Canada this summer. Or Newfoundland. Newfoundland! What do you think?” [Picks up phone to start checking flight prices]

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Belligerent Invalidators: Their M.O. is to rebuttal rather than listen, and put their energy into making their own case instead of seeing things from their partner’s perspective.

Example of Belligerent Invalidation in Action:

Them: “I feel like you were rude to my friend.”

You: “Your friend is an annoying idiot who drinks too much and if you want to avoid these problems you should stop inviting him over.”

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Controlling invalidators:  These types of invalidators are extremely confident that their way of doing things is right and just, and will either intervene or undo things that their partner does in efforts to correct, (i.e. “help”) them. This happens in many situations including parenting, housekeeping, social situations, and more. 

Example of Controlling Invalidation in Action:

Them: “No, Timmy, you can’t go out to play because you have to take a shower and clean your room.”

You: “You need exercise Timmy. Be back before dinner.”

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Judgmental Invalidators: These types of invalidators minimize the importance of things that they do not personally feel are interesting or important to them, in a way that creates disconnection in their relationships.

Example of Judgmental Invalidation in Action:

Them: “What should we do this weekend? So many fun things! Do you want to go to the farmer’s market / prepper expo / rv show / rodeo?”

You: “Pfft. NO. That is so boring, why would anyone want to do that. Personally, I’m busy anyway. I have to spend the weekend finishing my Fortnite challenges. Wanna watch? No? Okay see you later.”

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Emotional Invalidators: Then of course there is the stereotypical, garden-variety Emotional Invalidator, who feels entitled to “disagree” with other people’s feelings, or argue that other’s feelings are not reasonable, or to talk them out of their feelings.

Example of Emotional Invalidation in Action:

Them: “Crying”

You: “You shouldn’t be sad. At least we have one healthy child already….”

You some more: “….That’s not what I meant. We can try again next month. The doctor said that this could happen the first time….”

If this conversation sounds even remotely familiar… I’m glad we’re here right now!

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Fixit Invalidators: Then, there is the “Fixit” Invalidator, who would prefer to leap over messy feelings entirely and go straight to helpful solutions — having zero idea they are making things infinitely worse by doing so.

Example of Fixit invalidation in Action:

Them: “I am heartbroken about my argument with my sister. I feel really bad about what happened.”

You: “She’s just a drama queen. Forget about it. You should make plans with some of your other friends. I’ll see if Jenny and Phil want to come over on Friday.”

Does this sound like something you might say?

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Owner of the Truth Invalidators: Lastly, there are the reflexive “that’s not what happened” invalidators who pride themselves on being rational and who sincerely believe that their subjective experience is the yardstick of all others. If it didn’t happen to them, it is not a thing. A kissing-cousin of codependency, this type of invalidator will often follow up their original invalidation by explaining to you how you, actually, are the one with the problem.

Example of a Truth Owner in Action:

Them: “I am feeling really invalidated by you right now.”

You: “I am not invalidating you. You were just telling me that your day was hard and you’re feeling overwhelmed, and I know for a fact that you shouldn’t be feeling that way because it wasn’t that bad. You just need to get more organized. You’re overreacting.”

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Good times, right? Yes, there are so, so many ways to invalidate someone. This is just a small sample of the many ways, shapes and forms emotional invalidation shows up in relationships. There are many more. Not sure what kind of invalidator you might be? Ask your partner. I’m sure they’d be happy to tell you.

Next, now that we’ve “cultivated self awareness,” as we say in the shrink-biz, we’re going to talk about how to stop doing that, and start helping your partner feel validated instead.

Step Two: Understand The Importance of Validation

While the first step in learning how to stop accidentally invalidating your partner is to figure out what kinds of invalidation you are prone to, the second step is to learn what it means to be validating and why it’s so important.

What is “Validation” Anyway?

So: What is “validation?” To validate someone means that you help them feel understood, accepted, and cared for by you. It requires empathy. Empathy is happening when you really get how they see things, and that you support them in their perspective — even if you do not share their perspective. 

Because empathy is such a foundational skill in so many areas of Love, Happiness and Success, the development of empathy is often a big part of what is happening in emotional intelligence coaching, personal growth work, as well as marriage counseling. Empathy requires intention, but it’s incredibly powerful when you start really getting it.

This is super important in relationships because validation is a cornerstone of emotional safety. And emotional safety — feeling like you are accepted and valued for who you are, like your thoughts, feelings, and preferences are important to your partner, and that your relationship is loving and supportive — is the foundation of a happy, healthy relationship.

Just consider how wonderful it feels to hear these words, “I can understand why you would feel that way.” No matter what’s going on, when you hear that it feels like you’re accepted by the person you’re with and that it’s okay for you to feel the way you feel. That right there is the strong foundation from which you can then find your own way forward. (And in your own time).

Also, if we were to dissect pretty much any basic argument that a couple can have, 98% of the time, arguments start with one person feeling invalidated by the other. When anyone feels invalidated the natural response is to then escalate their efforts to be understood. Which can sound like yelling. Then if the invalidator doubles down on defending their invalidating behaviors in response, it can get pretty ugly pretty quick. As I’m sure you know. Incidentally, if you have been feeling like your partner is emotionally reactive and unnecessarily hostile towards you, it can actually be an important clue that you’ve been making them feel invalidated without realizing it. (Read, “Twelve Effective Ways to Destroy Your Relationship” for more on this and other common relationship mistakes).

So if you work towards being more validating you will not just stop pretty much any argument in its tracks but your partner will feel emotionally safe and accepted by you, and you will have a much stronger, happier relationship. Win, win, win.

Step Three: Validate Feelings Intentionally, Through Practice

The real problem with changing your (our) tendency to be accidentally invalidating is that it can be really hard to wrap your (our) brains around the fact that we really are hurting the people we love without meaning to. 

In none of the examples of “types of invalidators” was I describing anyone who was trying to be hurtful. They were just failing to understand their partner’s perspective or needs or feelings, and prioritizing their own instead. 

Human beings are generally self-focused, unless they put purposeful effort into being other-focused. Sad but true.

The good news is that it’s not hard to be more other-focused if you decide that it’s important enough to make it a priority. It just takes intention and practice, and a genuine desire to want your partner to feel more cared for by you.

Here’s what my perspective of me being invalidating (and then trying to practice validation) looks like at my house:

My husband is telling me something but I’m not really connecting with what he is saying. He’s talking about his day at work, and how he’s not feeling great. And now he’s going on and on about this guy he works with who’s super annoying, and incompetent, and how he’s thinking about taking the day off tomorrow to go take photos and how he might drive out towards the mountains, and now he’s talking about this new video game that he started playing with our son, and how there are these avatars that build sawmills and jump over sharks and there are dances (or something) and …

….I’ve now officially zoned out, and am now following the spark of ideas that whatever he just said to me has just ignited into being, through the chambers of my own mind.  Day off… Mountains…. Nature documentary…. Camera lenses…. Majestic landscape photos…. I want to go somewhere beautiful… Catherine said good things about Quebec…. He’s still talking but I’m now having an entirely internal experience. I know he’s still there, but it’s the muffled, “Wa-wa-wa” like the adult in the old Charlie Brown cartoons. I am now entirely absorbed by my own thoughts rather than what he is saying, but not on purpose.

Sometimes he can tell when I’m not there anymore, but most of the time neither of us realize what is happening until I say something apparently out of the blue, like “I was just thinking that it would be fun to go to Canada this summer. Or Newfoundland. What do you think?” [Picks up phone to start researching flight prices]. Then I look up from my phone to see his shoulders slump a little and this look cross his face like, “Do you even care about what I’m saying?” Only then do I realize that what he was talking about felt important to him, and I made him feel bad. He’s annoyed. He should be.

Because in that moment, my lack of attention left him feeling invalidated in our conversation. He was left feeling like he wasn’t important or interesting enough for me to pay attention to, or worse, like I just hijacked the conversation to talk about whatever I was thinking of instead of what he was bringing up. Which I totally did.

But like you, I didn’t mean to hurt his feelings. It just happened because I wasn’t making him a priority in that moment, but indulging my own self-absorbed thoughts instead of really deliberately tracking what he was saying to me. (If you, too, have a tendency towards adult ADHD, I’m sure you can relate.)

In contrast, when I remind myself of my intention to be a good friend to him, to help him feel cared for and validated by me, it’s a totally different experience. I will myself to focus on what he is saying. I look in his eyes. When I feel my mind starting to slide towards something other than what he is talking about, I bring it back to him by very deliberately reflecting something I heard him say. I think about how he might be feeling and ask about that. Or I ask open-ended questions to help him say more about what is going on for him, but also as a strategy to keep myself engaged. In short, I am using communication skills and empathy to help him feel validated.

I try really hard to stay present, and stay on topic. Sometimes I am more successful than others, but I know he sees me trying. We know each other well enough now and we can even laugh about it, as we do when I glaze and he just stops talking and makes a face at me. Humor helps. So does managing your expectations that your partner can or should be perfectly perfect at validating your feelings all of the time.

But truthfully, if you want to stop making someone else feel invalidated it requires a certain level of courage and humility. It’s hard to think about, “What’s it like to live with me” and really allow yourself to understand, deeply, what you do and how it makes your partner feel. I think that embracing personal responsibility without being defensive is one of the hardest things to do in a marriage, and helping other people move into this receptive, honestly reflective space is often the hardest thing for me to do as a marriage counselor. That’s why I wanted to model this for you.

How to Validate Someone’s Feelings

Every flavor of invalidation has an antidote that’s a little different. Just as there are infinite ways to invalidate feelings, there are many strategies for how to validate someone’s feelings too. I could go into great detail about what the antidote for each involves, but then this would be an actual self-help book rather than a blog post. But, briefly, here are some pointers:

• Inattentive invalidators need to stay present and use mindfulness skills to focus and not drift away.
• Belligerent invalidators need to find compromises that honor their partner’s feelings, too.
• Controlling invalidators need to manage anxiety, and trust in the competence of others.
• Judgmental invalidators need to work on generosity and respect.
• Emotional invalidators need to work on empathy and emotional intelligence skills.
• Fixit Invalidators must make peace with the fact that all feelings are valuable, even dark ones. (Especially dark ones).
• Owner of Truth types can benefit from personal growth work that expands their own worldview, and relationship coaching that emphasizes listening skills.

What to Do When Someone Invalidates Your Feelings

If your partner or anyone else invalidates your feelings, remember that they are probably not doing it intentionally. Gently let them know that, even if they do not understand the way that you feel, your feelings are valid and you would like to share them. You can also let them know exactly what you need. You might say something like, “I need to be able to talk about how I’m feeling, but I don’t need you to fix anything or try to make me feel better. I just need you to listen and try to understand.”

If invalidation is a frequent issue in your relationship, it’s important that you get help from a good couples counselor. Chronic emotional invalidation is bad for you psychologically, and if left unchecked, it can destroy a relationship that’s otherwise loving. Look for a marriage and family therapist who practices evidence-based forms of couples counseling (not an individual therapist who also sees couples). I have more info for you about how to find a good marriage counselor here.

I hope that this discussion of how you may be accidentally invalidating your partner was helpful to you, or what to do when your partner invalidates you. You have the power to shift the emotional climate of your relationship, just by making your partner’s feelings and perspective as important to you as your own. Not easy to do. It requires emotional strength, the ability to be honest with yourself, and the willingness to grow in service of your relationship. But it is so worth it.

Now, please send this post back to your partner so they can think about what THEY need to be working on in order to help you feel more heard, valued, and understood by them. 

And, if you would like my support in learning to communicate with each other in new ways, I invite you to schedule a free consultation.

All the best,

Dr. Lisa Marie Bobby

P.S. If you enjoyed this podcast there is so much more for you. Visit our “Growing Together” collection for more free articles and advice to help you improve your communication, and get the love and respect you both want and deserve. xo, LMB

Citations

Kuo JR, Fitzpatrick S, Ip J, Uliaszek A. The who and what of validation: an experimental examination of validation and invalidation of specific emotions and the moderating effect of emotion dysregulation. Borderline Personal Disord Emot Dysregul. 2022 May 18;9(1):15. doi: 10.1186/s40479-022-00185-x. PMID: 35581663; PMCID: PMC9116024.

Witkowski, Gregory, “The Effect of Emotionally Validating and Invalidating Responses on Emotional Self-Efficacy” (2017). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 3646.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/3646

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