MuchConcern
Fewer than 3 Posts
 Offline
What is your sexual orientation: Straight
Who in your life has "personality" issues: Romantic partner
Relationship status: Married
Posts: 2
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« on: April 09, 2025, 05:50:38 PM » |
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I've been married for 5 1/2 years. The first 4 were great. I felt like I had found someone I could safely open up to and bring up any issues with and he would give thoughtful responses. He was supportive and encouraging. I thought "Wow, this is how a relationship is supposed to be." Then he started getting involved in a Discord/Locals group chat, getting in voice calls and watching movies together.
He didn't want me to participate or be in any of the chats. I could watch movies with him while he chatted and sometimes told them what I said or let me choose a movie. Then he began to tell me that my movie choices were bad, my humor cringy, - it seemed he was embarrassed of me. He mainly was chatting with 2 women which made me feel jealous. I had to remind myself he's always had female friends online, including me. I remember him wanting to go shopping with me only to be chatting with one of them the entire time we were out. He was increasingly irritated with me and told me his online friends respected him and complimented his intelligence which he didn't get from me.
At some point I realized that I had been going through the stages of grief at losing his friendship. He began to have spells of livid anger where he would criticise me heavily. When he told me I was emotionally abusive, I almost passed out from the shock. I started researching emotional abuse, how I could make myself aware of when I was doing it, how to stop. I learned a lot about Codependency (I had been in a long term relationship with an alcoholic previously) and the drama triangle - and thatreally we both played those roles. I talked to my friends who thought he seemed more controlling than me, but I also knew I had bad relationship role models in my parents; that I had learned passive aggressiveness from my mother; that she didn't respect my father.
I was trying to fix myself, but he still kept getting intensely angry and giving me the silent treatment. The man I had thought was so stable and even generally in a good mood, now looked at me like I was an alien, didn't want me to touch or speak to him. A few days would pass and he would come out of it wanting to be close, giving me treats, and wanting sex. It was so confusing.
One time I was Googling the silent treatment and stumbled upon Borderline Personality Disorder. Things started to add up: the intense anger, mood swings, the fact that I had originally only seem his anger when he talked to or even about his family, his road rage style driving with me in the car, his inability to maintain friendships (he trusts no one, believes they will eventually let him down), the classic splitting - I was and maybe still am sometimes his favorite person. He had me on a pedestal for a long time. I had never been treated that way and had no idea. I may have been temporarily replaced by his online friends as a fp but he doesn't talk to them much anymore.
Since I started keeping track in February, he has an episode of livid anger and the silent treatment (or occasionally a blow up devaluing session) at least once a week - almost every other day over the last week and a half. He often just seems to wake up mad, when everything was fine the night before. Unless something is triggering him on his phone in the morning?
I've been trying not to take it personally, give him space until he's feeling better. I'm exhausted. He probably is too. We're both suffering. He thinks therapy is bunk. I guess I'm just looking for support, understanding, and maybe even tips on how to keep my own sanity, let alone broach the subject with him, from people who know. I could be wrong about BPD, too. Maybe others can help shed some light on things.
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