I need to clear the air too, I don't like stuff hanging out there that is left unresolved.
I think the reason he hasn't pursued therapy are just excuses. He has a really good employee right now that could cover his store front. His past relationship left him bankrupt and at the brink of losing everything, so I know he still worries about having slow times. If he can rub two pennies together to get a nickle, he would. Honestly, I think he is avoiding the pain of therapy, and he is afraid of being out the money when he might need that money to pay a utility bill. They are all excuses and for a man that doesn't like to be "boxed in", these excuses sure have him locked up in a box.
The response I get is first distraction...I have a 5 year old who is a master at distraction so this doesn't work on me. Avoidance or walking away is another method he uses, which is okay. In these moments, if I try to talk with him about anything, even what is for dinner, I get a response of "why can't I just let it go?". I'm letting it go, but his presence is still holding on strong to the emotional/traumatic rollercoaster his mind is sending him on. So I leave him alone or grab his hand and go for a walk.
In a full on episode before I knew of his PTSD, I was trying to get him to be accountable for leaving the house late at night when he shouldn't have been driving. He just got out of bed and started to pack his stuff. I got upset when I saw this. So he said he was leaving because I was getting upset but I was upset because he was leaving and not talking to me. He just kept smiling, saying nothing is wrong, but he wouldn't look me in the eye. I had no idea what was going on. He had previously told me he was a relationship runner, but he didn't want to run from our relationship so to always stop him from running. So this is what I was doing, confronting him and trying to stop him from running. The next day is when I approached him about possibly having PTSD and he admitted to it, it is also the day I discovered this forum.
That same day I was trying to discuss it with him and he kept calling me a baby, and that I always have to be right. He was literally telling me "you're a baby, you're a baby, baby, baby baby" or "you just have to be right don't you", every time i tried to speak. I wasn't trying to be right about anything, just trying to figure our what was happening and trying to understand him better. He was calling me an abuser and violent for being upset. I never touched him, and never spoke in anger. I was very upset, crying, and destroyed with the sequence of events. I didn't understand what was happening. I did slam the door behind him I was so upset.
When I tried to explain and apologized for my behavior, he would keep calling me a baby, or violent, or an abuser. He was still in a PTSD episode and high on zanax. I apologized a 100 times, and I couldn't get him to admit once that he shouldn't have packed up to begin with. I would say "I acknowlege and apologize for my behavior and I need for you to acknowledge that packing up without talking with me wasn't okay", he would respond with "stop being a baby, baby, baby, you were being violent". We went in circles for about 2 hours before we silently agreed to move past it, we had an awesome conversation after that. He had to go feed the dogs and do laundry, then we got back online about an hour and a half later. Apparently in that short time frame he drank 7 beers with his roommate because within 30 minutes of being back online he was on me again and I was in tears. This was my first episode with him, and it left me emotionally drained and questioning everything. He did mention the next morning, that he didn't remember anything because he was drinking so sorry for whatever happened. I said thanks I needed to hear that as it was pretty rough. Now if he drinks, I keep our talks to a minimum.
I'm sorry that was a long response but thanks for letting me share it. This is why I tread lightly when trying to hold him accountable for his behavior. I feel like I am starting some foundation with him. We have agreed that when he is having a PTSD moment that he needs to communicate that to me in some way. If he can't speak to me, then just grab my hand and look me in the eye. I will know that we need to leave the environment asap. It is not okay to just leave or not show up without communicating that to me.
Now I need to see if he is capable of going to therapy again and working on establishing behavior boundaries. I don't mind a grump every once in a while, but the name calling has to stop. It is mean, cruel, and unjustified...and completely unneccessary.