It's the end of a hellish week and you're getting ready to go out with your girlfriends - have a glass of wine, a bit of a laugh. It's exactly what you need.Then you look at your husband.He's sitting on the sofa, scrolling aimlessly through his phone, and you know he'll be exactly where you left him when you return. The guilt wipes out all the happy anticipation you'd been feeling.You should be pleased. Rather him home alone than out getting drunk with his mates, right? So, why do you feel suffocated rather than grateful?Women rarely talk about feeling trapped by a husband with no meaningful relationships outside the marriage but it's happening to millions of them across the UK. Women rarely talk about feeling trapped by a husband with no meaningful relationships outside the marriage but it's happening to millions of them across the UK, claims Tracey Cox (pictured) Why men lose their friendsSo why doesn't your husband have a healthy friendship group like yours? Research shows men's friendships are more fragile than women's. They're built around activities - playing sport, going to the pub after work - rather than talking.Take away the ability to do the activity - he moves, leaves his job, becomes busy with parenthood or retires - and the friendship disappears along with it.Women tend to maintain friendship through conversation and emotional connection. We can keep a friendship alive on WhatsApp for years. Men generally can't or won't even try.Add to this that many men - particularly those over 45 - were brought up to believe the only person you talked to about your feelings was your wife. (Male chat is about football or work and anything else is a bit weird.) And you'll see why we have a generation of men who are loving husbands but socially stranded if the marriage hits a rough patch - or his wife wants an evening to herself.He might not be able to pinpoint or articulate what he's feeling but women know: it's anxiety.Why his loneliness is hard for womenMost women who are with a friendless man are riddled with guilt. Guilt that we have a rich, full life... and he doesn't.Lots of women don't talk about it because it sounds ungrateful to be complaining about a man who is there for us rather than out chasing women or getting drunk. Then there's the embarrassment of having to admit no-one wants to hang out with your husband.You can't talk to him about it because it sounds cruel to say 'I feel bad that you have no friends'.What generally happens is your life shrinks to accommodate his. You go out less, come home earlier and check in when you are out. Some invitations you say no to because it seems rude to leave him home alone too often.The result of all this is resentment: your good times are being curtailed because of him.HOW TO FIX ITIt might feel like a desperately sad situation that you're both stuck with for life but that's not true. You can help him fix it and here's how.Treat it as a solvable problemTell him directly, 'I want you to have a life that doesn't revolve around me. Not because I don't love you but because I do. Say something happened to me? I worry about that'.Men often respond better when they're doing something for you (I need to stop her worrying about me) rather than purely for themselves.Encourage him to get out thereYou can't make friends for him. But you can encourage him to take up some activity because that's how most men connect. If he loves sport, suggest he finds a local team and starts it up again. (It's easy to dress this one up as him needing the exercise.) He loves the pub? Go with him to a few pub quizzes and get him chatting to other men who are regulars. When the next one comes along, you're busy but why doesn't he go along solo?Ask the husbands of your friends for help. Is there something they enjoy that they wouldn't mind asking him along to?Don't enable, do plan aheadIf you continually cancel plans to stay home with him, you're stopping him feeling lonely and uncomfortable when you're gone. This is often what finally motivates men to do something to fix things.Instead, say 'I'm going out Friday night with some work friends. Just letting you know in case you want to plan something for yourself that evening.'It's a gentle nudge to think about what he might do. It might be something that doesn't involve other people - he might take up a hobby or watch a movie he knows you don't fancy. That's fine. So long as he has a purpose to his evening, you're off the hook guilt-wise.Think about designating one or two evenings a week that are 'separate time': you both do your own thing.It turns independence into a routine and removes the horrible tension of 'God, I have to tell him I'm going out. Again'.Forgotten friends can be resurrectedMost men have at least one friendship that's dormant - an old work colleague, a brother he used to be close to, an old mate from university. Ask him when he last saw them. Suggest he texts them. Offer to have them over for a dinner or lunch.Get him to reminisce about the pastWhat did he do to amuse himself before you came along? A lot of men abandon their hobbies or things they enjoyed once they're in a serious relationship thinking that's what you're supposed to do.Darts? Fishing? Going to see a live band? Running? Remembering what he loved before can also remind him of the people he used to love doing it with.They might be as thrilled at an old mate reaching out as he is to connect with one.Follow Tracey on Instagram @traceycoxsexauthor 'I need her more than she needs me and that must be a burden' Oliver is 48 and has been married for 26 years.'I was made redundant a few years ago and changed jobs. I didn't realise all my friendships were with people I worked with until that happened. 'Suddenly, there was no-one to have a drink with after work. I assumed I'd make new friends at my new job, but I work from home a lot so there aren't any drinks after work. No-one socialises the way they did in my old job.'To be honest, it doesn't worry me that much. But it does worry my wife. She has a lot of friends and worries that I don't have any. But men are different. We don't need to be surrounded by people all the time.'My wife has always been the focus of my life anyway. We do most things together, but I don't mind when she goes out. It's quite nice having time alone though I do occasionally worry that she might meet someone more interesting than me when she's out socialising. She's attractive and confident and talks to everyone. I try not to quiz her too much when she comes home but she knows I get a bit anxious about that.'She'd probably go out more with her friends and stay out later if I had some mates to go out with. Am I like having a child that hasn't grown up and become independent?'Doing this interview makes me very aware that I need her more than she needs me. It must feel like a burden. I feel a bit embarrassed by how much I rely on her sometimes. 'She's responsible for our social life because she's the one with all the friends. We have some couple friends that I get on with but they're all her friends, really. 'I wonder if they'd stay in contact with me if something happened, like she left or died. I don't like to think about that because she's everything to me.'