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UPDATE: Opinions on whether this is emotional abuse
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First post, i'm looking for opinions/advice on whether my boyfriend's behavior is emotionally abusive.
Full disclosure: I've been in a previous emotionally abusive relationship and quite recently I kissed a stranger at a bar, after a number of unpleasant events with my boyfriend - immediately fessed up, hasn't happened before or since.
Prior to the infidelity, he:
- walked out midway through a dinner after I refused to move in (approx 6 months in) and wouldn't talk to me for a week.
- is extremely critical of how I do things around the house (cleaning, cooking etc) and regularly brings this up as a joke in front of my and his friends
- often does things that physically hurt me as a joke
- has significant road rage, chasing down cars that have cut him off, screaming EXTREME profanities. If I say this frightens me he will refuse to talk to me and/or frequently glare at me.
- blames me for minor things that occur. On a holiday we had to walk from a ferry to our hire car and we ran into a wall that blocked us off. Threw the bag and swore at me
-often suggests I look chubby or I smell as a joke
- gets extremely angry if I dress "too nicely" because of how it makes him "look stupid" and questions why i've done it.
After the inifidelity now, he:
- gets angry when I drink or go out with platonic male friends. Says he is never going to tell me "what to do" but then tells me that i'll only embarrass myself or hurt him so I may as well not do it/he doesn't like it.
- tells me I am "too fragile" to handle basic life tasks without "having a breakdown"
- constantly brings up the infidelity - usually in the middle of the night, he wakes me up - and tells me he's anxious and angry, but when I suggest solutions (counsellors etc), he tells me there's no point because i'm the cause of his problems anyway.
These are all examples, though there is more. These normally happen once every three or four days, and afterwards he's extremely loving, caring, and tells me how good he is for 'looking after me'.
Also as a side note, I have anxiety, depression and ocd.
Just wanted some opinions. Thanks for your help
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Hello ladygrey, I suspect you know the answer otherwise you wouldn't have taken the time to write it all down. Have a read through that list again, and ask yourself whether that sounds like a healthy relationship.
Just because you've been in an emotionally abusive (actually let's just drop the emotionally part, because you mention physical abuse)... abusive relationship before, doesn't immunise you against being in one again. In fact, you're quite likely to continue being attracted to these types of men until you get to the root cause of how you form your romantic attachments.
My issue is connecting with men who are emotionally unavailable, but leave just enough crumbs on the table to keep you hoping.
It's the same with abusive men, they butter you up once every few days to try and whitewash the earlier abuse. Once you see it written down, you can see how skewed the ledger is.
Please get out, for your own sake, and don't look back.
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Hi ladygrey. You are selling yourself so short being with this person. No way does he love or even respect you. Jess is 1000% right, you deserve to be treated as an equal not someone's whipping boy because he's in a mood. Often women who've been brought up in abusive, dysfunctional homes don't realise till after they've left home, exactly how bad they've been treated. I think given the choice, I'd actually rather be alone than with someone who treats me as bad as you've been treated. He's emotionally and physically abusive. He sounds like a little boy who can't get his own way. Leave now before he totally destroys what little confidence you may have.
Lynda.
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Dear ladygrey
Thank you for coming to Beyond Blue and posting.
You’ve have two responses from two of the lovely ladies from our Beyond Blue community – Jess and Lynda.
Now from a male’s perspective … “Get the hell out of this relationship and do it as fast as you can”.
And even more seriously, I hope that this is able to be done – in that, I hope this guy will not make it really hard for you. Do you have a place where you could go that is safe, and perhaps even unknown to him?
Perhaps family/siblings? I’m a bit concerned about you going to a friend’s place, if they are a mutual friend of the both of you.
You deserve someone who will give you love and care back to you – not just a small token of crap that he might dish out as a sweetener after he’s abused you.
I do hope you can come back and post again.
Kind regards
Neil
ps: oh and to kiss someone else - is that really infidelity?
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Hi ladygrey,
Yes it is abusive.
Run. Get out before it gets worse.
The advice given from the wonderful people here is just what you need.
You deserve better than this. Perhaps you can list down how you feel a relationship should make you feel and what you should get out of it. This will be another way to show how you are not getting what you need from him.
Our partners in life (and our friends for that matter) should build us up, not tear us down. This is especially true when having depression and anxiety as you mention you have.
Kind thoughts,
Carol
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As jessF already mentioned, i think you know the answer to your question.
I also think the main question you could be asking yourself, in this relationship & any future relationships is, are you happy???
You control your happiness & if you are not happy with him then get out. The longer you stay there the more time you waist on getting your happiness back. & you cant get this time back.
My biggest regrets are not that i found myself with the wrong men, but that i took too long to take action, on what i knew was a bad relationship. I regret waisting that time being put down, ashamed, doubting myself, when i could of been making myself happy & eventually meeting that guy that also, truely, wanted me to be happy.
Never forget: You are stronger than you realise & you deserve to be happy
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Hi ladygrey
The weekend has come and gone, and am not sure if you're still here reading, but if you are, I hope that you're doing ok.
Kind regards
Neil
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Hi Ladygrey,
I agree with everyone else . Run ! Get out !
"often does things that physically hurt me as a joke" - this is an absolute red flag.