Dating a Broken Man: 5 Tips Before You Love a Damaged Person

Are you concerned you’re dating someone who has been emotionally damaged? Do you prefer not to have to deal with a broken soul? Are there any signs that this person has been seriously hurt in the past? 

You’ve come to the right place. In this guide, we reveal the five signs you’re dating an emotionally damaged man, and what you can expect if you choose to pursue this relationship.

Prior to diving into this guide, please take a moment to read the following sentences carefully.

There is a little-known aspect of male psychology that greatly impacts how they view their romantic partners. 

It’s known as the Hero’s Instinct.

If you learn how to trigger it, you can unlock deep feelings of pride, purpose, and meaning inside men. 

When you are dating an emotionally fragile man, it’s crucial that you make him feel emotionally close to you. 

I found it extremely difficult to find a man who was willing to show me love and affection before I discovered this deeply primal male instinct. Developing deep and loving relationships has become much easier (read more about my experience).

Despite being such a simple skill to learn, yet so few people seem to know about it.

When you know how to do this, you can make your partners feel like no other woman can.

I highly recommend learning how I discovered the power of the ‘Hero’s Instinct’ if you want more fulfilling relationships. 

It will be much easier to bond with someone who is emotionally fragile this way. 

Also, you can find below some advice that will help you prepare for this situation.

We must first define what makes a broken man. The term ‘broken man’ refers to a person who has either been emotionally hurt or whose heart has been broken. Although it’s the most obvious explanation, it doesn’t mean it was caused by a woman in a romantic relationship, anyone could have caused it.

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A Broken Man Shows These 5 Signs

In order to understand what you need to know when dating a broken man, we need to understand the characteristics of a broken person. These signs may help you to figure out whether or not you’re dating a broken man. Below you will find signs of an emotionally damaged man – if the guy you’re dating is showing a lot of these signs, he may be emotionally broken.

He lacks confidence

Your date might lack confidence if he has been broken down so much that he doesn’t believe in himself. He might even question your interest in him.

He Pulls Back

A person who has been hurt badly before tends to assume that everyone they are interested in will hurt them at some point as well. Thus, they will self-sabotage any potential relationship because they are too afraid of getting hurt again.

Perhaps he won’t open up

A person who has been hurt badly before will try to protect themselves constantly, even without realizing it. Due to lack of trust, he won’t be open and shady about personal details. Someone who is broken will need a lot of time to trust and open up to you.

He’s a sensitive person

He will get upset if you say anything negative about him, even as a joke. Funny things might actually offend this guy, especially if they are about him, his past or relationship problems in general – anything can set off triggers.

He is a quiet man

This guy could be extremely quiet and reserved because he is drowning in internal noise because he is dealing with so many emotions in his head. Therefore, he doesn’t like being in loud places or speaking a lot. Furthermore, if he disagrees with what you have said, he will keep quiet instead of talking to you about it, as he lacks the confidence to do so.

How to Date a Broken Man: 10 Things You Should Know

1. It won’t be easy

It’s hard to date someone who is emotionally damaged, and it takes a lot of hard work and perseverance. Almost everything you say has to be carefully chosen so that you don’t upset him or trigger past traumas. Getting his trust and opening up to you will require extraordinary effort on your part. As a result, you will have to make the majority of the effort because he won’t, since he doesn’t want to put himself in a position where he might get rejected. Continually reassuring this guy that you aren’t going anywhere is essential. You may need to deal with his anxiety or/and depression as well since he might have mental health issues related to the emotional harm he has been subjected to.

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It is absolutely worth all of this effort, don’t get me wrong. Helping him grow and heal is amazing. It’s important to make sure you have a desire to fall in love with this person – if you leave after a while, their emotional damage might spiral out of control.

2. His behavior might appear controlling

Broken men aren’t always controlling, but some of them will be because they don’t trust you. It is definitely the case that a man has been harmed by the infidelity of a woman. So he knows that you cannot hurt him, he will try and control you. He might want to know where you are, who you are with, and why you are not with him.

While you do have to understand that he has been hurt in the past, you need to let him know that controlling you will not work. Being understanding is okay, but don’t let him control you. If you allow him to control you, his emotional damage affects you as well. You should tell him if you feel uncomfortable with the way he is treating you.

Try reassuring him that you will be faithful, and if that doesn’t work, just tell him that if he tries to control you, you will have to leave him because it doesn’t feel right. Try explaining to him what you think he is trying to do – he might actually open up, and stop trying to control your relationship.

3. If you mess up, you won’t get another chance

Broken men are unbelievably protective of themselves, even if they are unaware of it. As a result, he will only ever give you one chance to love him. You have one chance and if you mess it up and he sees any red flags, he will leave and not come back. Red flags that the man you’re dating may exhibit depend on what he has been through and what caused him so much damage in the first place. Even if you tell a small lie, he will leave you right away if all his previous romantic partners cheated on him.

The one thing you must respect is: why should he give you a second chance if you screw it up?

In no case should you mess up a relationship and ask for a second chance, especially not one with a man who has suffered emotional damage. Everything will be fine as long as you don’t mess it up. Don’t let stupidity or mistakes get in the way of what could possibly turn into love.

4. Perhaps he’s not as romantic as other people, not right away.

If he has been hurt in the past, he will be afraid of getting hurt in love, and may not behave as romantically as others you have previously dated. Because he’s scared that you’re going to leave, he’ll be nervous about showing affection to you and being romantic to you.

You might come to realize, however, that if you stick with him and earn his trust, he is even more romantic than he has ever been before. He will show you a beautiful, romantic display of love when he opens up to you and when your relationship is going well, because not only does he love you, but he is grateful that you stuck with him.

By making the first few romantic moves while dating, you can help a broken man feel more romantic and more open. It might take you out of your comfort zone, but you might enjoy it if you’re usually not the person to show love first.

5. He Attempts to sabotage the relationship

Being in a relationship with a broken man means facing the fact that he will try to destroy it. Whether he does this intentionally or subconsciously is unclear, but it will most likely happen. Even if this man wants to be romantically involved with you, you should be aware that he might ruin things a lot for both of you. Trying to sabotage the relationship is just another way for him to protect himself from being hurt. 

Sadly, the more he falls for you, the more doubts will enter his mind regarding the future of the relationship. When he realizes he is falling in love, he realizes that you are capable of hurting him. Upon realizing this, he might start to doubt the relationship, freak out and try to distance himself from you.

You have to be aware that this man may try to sabotage your relationship at any time. In the long run, after you’ve been together for awhile and you’ve both experienced love, he will feel more settled and become more open with you, so when he feels the urge to sabotage the relationship he can talk to you about it instead of running away.

6. He will want to maintain his privacy

When a broken man first starts to date you, he will want to keep his own life private. A broken man will not rush to get your round to their house, invite you to meet their friends, and invite you to be a part of their daily lives. When a broken man believes that you are only going to leave, he will not want to invite you into his life, so it might take some time before you are accepted into his life, friends, and family.

Besides this, a broken man probably has his own place, which he considers a safe and comfortable place for him. The space he has created is just for him, and him alone. The only thing he wants is for his safe space to be a place of peace, and he doesn’t want it to be one of ill will. Even if that isn’t what you intend to do, he doesn’t know that.

Don’t try to compel him to let you into his private life too quickly or force him to visit you at his place, as this could scare him and make him even more introverted. Likewise, he might not want to get too involved in your private life until he is sure of where the relationship is headed. He will invite you into his life once he has taken some time and feels he can trust you – this is usually when he is falling in love with you.

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7. It’s unlikely he will explain his emotional problems to you.

Broken men might not tell you why they are emotionally damaged. While you may want to know what happened to him, so you can understand what affected him so much, you may not find out for a long time, or you may never know. Oftentimes, when bad things happen to people, especially when it is heart-related, they don’t want to talk about it because it brings up trauma that they are still working through.

He might open up to you once he has been your man for a while and tell you how he became damaged. The process of telling someone this takes a lot of courage for broken men, so you should ensure you are understanding if he ever does so. Make sure to never take anything he says against him. Simply listen to him, care for him, and comfort him.

Whether or not he ever tells you how his heart got damaged, in a sense it doesn’t matter, because you’ll never know the full story, since you weren’t there. As much as you can, show him love so he can heal – we will talk more about that later.

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8. He will lack self-esteem

It is normal for someone to have less confidence if they have repeatedly been broken down by other people. It’s possible that the man you’re dating was previously abusive to a romantic partner or parent – if so, he will lack self-confidence. Abusive relationships involve constant criticism and criticism of the victim. If this behavior persists for a long period of time, the victim begins to believe that they are unworthy of love because there is something wrong with them. As a result, they will suffer from seriously low self-confidence and low self-esteem.

Even if the person you’re dating was not abusive, a bad breakup or being cheated on could lead to low self-esteem. He will be very confused when you start dating him because he won’t believe you care about him for who he is. It might be necessary for you to reassure him that you like him a lot or listen to him question why you’re even with him.

If you wish to improve this man’s self-confidence, you must make him see himself through your eyes and show him how amazing he is. When you start to see this man becoming more confident, and knowing you probably played a role in it, it will be an amazing feeling.

9.You shouldn’t treat him as a project

Women tend to see damaged men as a specific group of men who are very attractive. Perhaps this is because women are naturally inclined to help and make things better. In spite of that, it’s really disturbing to think that a woman would deliberately choose to date a man who is emotionally broken so she can try to fix him. It’s almost as if the emotionally wounded man is romanticized.

In spite of the fact that you would like to help him, you should want to do so for the sake of your love for him and your desire to try to improve his life, not because it’s exciting to care and fix an emotionally damaged individual.

10. Healing Can Be Achieved Through Love

In spite of the fact that you should never choose to be with someone who is damaged, if you truly love him, you can help him to heal. Staying with a damaged man can be crucial to his recovery if you show him the care and love his heart needs. There is a chance that you can make things better for this man in a big way. There are a variety of ways to help a broken man, but remember that it takes time for a broken man to let others love and care for him.

By simply being there for him, you can do a great deal to help. Let him open up to you if he thinks it will help if you listen to him and respect what he says. You can also simply tell him how much he has meant to you, and how much you care about making his life better. According to what you know about what caused him emotional damage, you might recommend he speak to a professional if you think it might be beneficial. Let him know you are happy to accompany him even if you show extra care. It’s best to tread lightly when it comes to something as sensitive as this, as he may not want to share his problems with others.

Knowing that you have helped someone by simply showing them love and care is one of the best feelings in the world.

Final words

Hopefully this article helped you understand not only what a broken-hearted man looks like, but also what you should expect if you are dating a broken man. If you start to fall in love with a broken man, then you will know how to identify him, what to expect when dating him, and how to handle it.

What do you think of this article about broken men? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Help us solve your biggest relationship issue.

As a valued reader of Sons Of Universe, we would love to invite you to take a look at an insightful video tutorial that we truly believe can may help you overcome your current relationship issues.

You think about him all the time, but he thinks only about himself?

It doesn’t mean he doesn’t like you. He needs to be understood in his own way. You’ll find there’s a subtle thing you can say to him that will dramatically change how he shows his emotions towards you once you do that.

Watch this quick video that explains how this one thing will get you to think first about you.

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