I think wanting to keep a loved one safe is good and healthy. Perhaps it is how we define safety and how we implement it that is the issue. Does it look more like parenting, control, direction rather than guidance and support?... .
Some level of codependency is necessary in a healthy relationship. It is when we tip over into dependency or lose ourselves it becomes an issue.
It mucks up the mind when in situations where feelings equal facts.
This was a notion I had not understood until I began learning about B(PD), but it certainly explained a lot of Dream Come True's behavior (the translation of my affair partner's name).
I only found out about a year and a half ago that my mom likely also had undiagnosed schizophrenia, so i am now even more interested in your story than I already was!
Dream Come True suffered from auditory and rarely visual hallucinations. However she exhibited none of the other traits of schizophrenia. Mental health is fairly medieval in China. She was also diagnosed Bipolar. I only saw mania once and it was light and brief. In my opinion, if one is not particularly good at one's job as a psychologist and you see a little girl with rage who hears voices it is an understandable misdiagnosis.
Since she had attempted suicide, cut herself, suffered dysphoria, dysregulated in to rage (and afterward could sometimes not remember the conversations), had risky sexual behaviors, a terrible track record with relationships (familial and romantic), had in the past issues with alcohol, and had a very fluid self image --I feel B(PD) is more likely her issue. In my opinion without therapeutic intervention (aka in China) there is little hope of a successful relationship involving B(PD).
Separating this sort of thing out is much easier as an adult in a romantic relationship that trying to cope and understand as a child. It must have been very difficult and confusing for you growing up.
So tell me, if you don't mind, were you able to keep separate from her emotions and fears and whatever aspect of her disorders were projected towards you?
To my peril
When someone is angry or even raging they are actually afraid. When 'fighting' I get cool instead of hot and pull in actively listen and observe -never fight fire with fire. I love communicating and think fighting is the lowest form of it -so I would rather get back to talking once the yelling is through. It doesn't mean I don't care -it just means I believe there are a more constructive ways to express emotions.
When she was in a state of diffuse physiological arousal (Fight, flight, freeze) I would listen for her message, never fire back. Let the rage flow over and around me and wait for her to return to me.
At one point she said 'I am incredibly angry' I said the Chinese equivalent to 'ok'. Her mouth dropped open and she shouted 'What!'. I said 'It is ok you are angry. I love you when you are happy, sad, or angry -they are all you'. She sat down and said 'Damn it I am not angry anymore'. I said 'Don't worry... .just wait you will be angry again before you know it!' I asked 'What would have happened if I said don't be angry?' She said 'That would have been bad'... .
She called me her 'Monster' because she had never met anyone quite like me. I liked the nickname. I called her 'small devil' -which is usually reserved for misbehaving children in China -I told her if the shoe fits... .
I forgave too much. I projected my world view on to her and presumed I could love the dysfunction out of her. I too much wanted fairytale love to be real.
When the dust settled in our relationship I had not lost a sense of self, but we were only together 18 months. In such a short exposure I had the endurance to avoid enmeshment on a catastrophic level. Most all of the time we spent in each other's presence was quite lovely -she usually only dysregulated when I was away. This would have likely changed. I believe I had a calming effect on her, but likely she would have become 'tolerant' of this and it would have lost its efficacy. There were cracks forming in our last weeks together which only became evident once i was removed from the situation.
Was it a struggle or were you able to tell that her reality was off compared to yours?
Well... .As an example... .When the rocks on the side of the road gave her a mission she told me 'I could not understand' ---I was pretty firm in my understanding where her hallucination ended and my world began... . I told her 'I may not be able to understand your mission, but tell me the parts I can understand and we can work together'. I did my best to sooth her and move her away from delusion and back to more firm ground -get her talking about us and less about her mission, but to let her know I had her back.
I do not mean her reality was not real for her... .
Astute point. Yes -this was all completely real for her. I loved her, so I was not afraid in those moments and I knew they would pass. Sadly, during this particular time of crushing stress I am now fairly certain she had her previous boyfriend over to 'comfort' her -the two dozen roses were still there when I arrived in Beijing later that week. -
This is hindsight speculation on my part and an artifact of my ruminating. Rumination when on for about 6 months trying to sort out the cognitive dissonance the experience created.
I had helped her create mechanisms to cope with depression which didn't involve cutting herself. It was shortly after this time she experienced her first cutting episode in nearly a year -I believe the resulting shame of having cheated on us.
What caused you to feel terror?
I felt terror and had a minor epiphany when at the end of a 7 day rage she broke up with me (Christmas day --she was so filled with rage she didn't know). I was back in the states doing the final preparation to move to China permanently, under crushing stress --selling homes, finalizing my divorce, arranging insurance, trying to secure work here and abroad, visa issues and just a touch of international law. It was all too much and it caused me to 'snap out of it'.
Technically speaking it was our 3rd breakup. The first time I marked it up to youth and bad habits -she was mad broke up and hung up the phone. I told her 'This only happens one more time.
Breaking up is not a negotiation tool --it should be brief, painful and permanent'. The second time was a 10 day ghosting (there was an actor 'freind' on her movie involved in the mix) just after I had announced my divorce to my wife --I was so shocked I forgot my own rule. The maelstrom of emotional dismay caused me to fall into an
anxious attachment modality -never good.
In retrospect,, I believe, the reality of our relationship coming to fruition had caused her to dysregulate and bolt. 'Maybe is worse than no' so run.
... .snakes are horrible creatures... .
I am actually a snake in the Chinese zodiac. I am always happy to see them from a distance when mountain biking -but I have no need to be their friends... .
Wicker Man