Spouses and Social Work

Hi!

This week has been absolutely AWFUL. To the point of tears on one day. I absolutely love my job, patients, and coworkers. Just some days are hard. I normally work 8-4 Monday-Friday but this week many emergent issues arose (I am a medical social worker) that led me to leave around 5-6 a couple days. When I was expressing my stressful day and how awful it was to my husband he began to argue with me about how I should just leave early and be done with it. The way I am, I worry about everyone and everything. There was a few abuse situations and a suicidal ideation statement that came up and that was not something I could just leave without addressing. I tried to explain the code of ethics to him and how I have an obligation as a social worker to be there for the patients. I feel like he’s maybe not understanding and being insensitive to the situation. I do not expect him to have the same empathy that I have for my patients as this is not his line of work but it did make me sad that he wasn’t empathetic towards me and the stress that can come with just being a social worker. I plan to talk with him about this conversation and let him know how I feel. I do not violate hipaa and when we discuss work I give very vague details of the day. I’m wondering is it best to not discuss with spouses about stressful days in the field? How does everyone navigate this with their spouses?