Relationship Are Habitual Breakups As A Means Of Isolation Common?

[NaeNae75]

Interesting thread. Me and my "sufferer" are now at the "I need a friend more than I need or want...

That ends up pretty common with us on and off. When either one of us is symptomatic (we both have PTSD) our "romantic" relationship always takes a back seat. It really isn't uncommon.

It makes sense that once you gave her her "space" she came back to you. For the most part, that's what they (we) need. To have a chance for the amygdala to chill out a bit without added stress pressure from people, even the ones we love. I know it seems trite, but the best thing to do is not take it personally.

I've come to find out that it rarely ever is personal. Funny thing about us humans, when we are upset about something within ourselves, like in our thoughts/minds, those are the things we get the most upset about. I know for me, when someone else actually does something to me, I am generally pretty quick to dismiss it if they're sorry and didn't mean it. When something is done that I perceive as wrong or against me, whether it's "true" or not, those are the things I have a hard time of letting go. The things I'm the most mad at MYSELF for....oh boy! If someone brings that up, then it really feels like an attack, and I'm likely to just lose it.

Maybe it's because the things we like least about ourselves are the things we're always beating ourselves up over, so when someone else "notices" than our worst fears about ourselves are realized, so why not push someone away? Especially those we love to protect them from us....

Sorry for the tangent! Hang in there, cycles are cycles until we do something to change the patterns. If you can deal with things the way they are, then when things are in the "good" cycle, enjoy it, but make little changes to make the difficult cycles easier to handle and hopefully less frequent!