Sometimes things can get very stressful and tense in relationships....so much so that a timeout MAY be necessary. There is a big difference between taking a time out to get some space and perspective, clear your head, and calm down and taking an extended time out to the next level where it’s used as emotional abuse. This is called shutting down and it it a coping method that is unhealthy and has no place in marriage. If you are giving your spouse the "silent treatment" and this behavior is so chronic it becomes the "norm"...... that’s a MAJOR problem. Relationships require work to be successful....and both people need to be working on it. The work certainly can’t happen if one person won’t even get in the game. Here, we give some advice to a young lady who says she just can’t take the long bouts of silence that her husband wages against her when he feels misjudged by her. She is feeling frustrated, disrespected and shut out by the one she loves the most and asks "What can I do?!"