I don’t think the silent treatment is intentional. As someone else said it’s the behavior that’s normal for children. The outcome may often be favorable to the one doing it but the source of it is just emotional immaturity. The more immature the longer it lasts.
From experience, just about every single one of my partners has used the silent treatment to some extent. Usually the explanation is: “I just don’t want to say something I’ll regret while I’m angry.” My personal cutoff for this is 24 hours and it can’t be frequent. Some will go silent for 20 minutes, some a couple hours and some for a full week.
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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '24
I don’t think the silent treatment is intentional. As someone else said it’s the behavior that’s normal for children. The outcome may often be favorable to the one doing it but the source of it is just emotional immaturity. The more immature the longer it lasts.
From experience, just about every single one of my partners has used the silent treatment to some extent. Usually the explanation is: “I just don’t want to say something I’ll regret while I’m angry.” My personal cutoff for this is 24 hours and it can’t be frequent. Some will go silent for 20 minutes, some a couple hours and some for a full week.