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Hi...I Thought I Was Doing OK, But I Was Wrong

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flowers

New Here
I'm not sure where to start... I was diagnosed (informally, though) with Ptsd. Shortly after, I stopped seeing my counselor. She said I had severe ptsd but I did not want to face that.

Growing up, my mom was emotionally distant and cruel at times. She did not allow me to express anger/ sadness so I learned to hide all negative emotions from others. I was criticised most of the time, even when I tried to do my best. I was a "pleaser" but nothing was ever good enough for her. My dad was very kind but almost never home--always working.

I was sexually assaulted by my Grandfather when I was 15. It was not anything extreme but still humiliating/ degrading/ shaming. I just tried to forget about it.

I married the first man who said he loved me. We eloped with no family present, against my wishes. I wanted to wait 2 years but he somehow talked me into marrying him in 2 weeks. He was emotionally abusive from the start. Then he became more and more s. demanding and eventually violently violated me more than a handful of times. But before things got really bad, I had 5 miscarriages in 7 years. So I was already going through a lot. But he never wanted to hear me talk to him about how much I was hurting inside. After the last miscarriage in 2005, he refused to see me in the hospital, blamed me for the miscarriage, and then threw something at my head a week after I came home. He missed hitting me, but I fell to the floor, curled up into a ball, and cried/ hyperventilated. Then he came to me and got in my face and said, "You're crazy!"

It was after this that things got much worse and he began forcing me to do things I told him I did not want to do. I left him 5 times in 4 years. I always returned for some reason--wanting to believe he could change/ not feeling I could make it on my own/ dealing with strange symptoms and depression. Eventually, I did go to a counselor. But that did not last long. I could not take talking about things. The last time he forced me was just 3 months ago. But I am so numb right now, I feel almost nothing. I can pretend nothing happened, but then the rest of my life is messed up because I have almost no motivation...Things I used to enjoy just seem hum-drum. I blame myself for everything. Maybe if I was a better wife...but I know the truth--just don't want to face it.
 
Welcome to the forum......

Dr Phil has a statement that he uses all the time. "You can not CHANGE, what you don't ACKNOWLEDGE" Unless you acknowledge that your husband is abusive, controlling, and sick.........The you can not change your life....

In my honest opinion....You are hurting yourself more, by staying.... But I guess you need to figure out why you *think* that you are deserving of his punishment, and continue to stay with him...

If it were me.....I would have been gone long ago.... Please take care of yourself, you don't deserve this kind of treatment....
 
Like I said, I did leave him 5 times in the past 4 years. I don't think I'm deserving of his treatment. But I have kept hoping he would choose to treat us better. He seems to now be doing better (for the past several months) and is keeping himself accountable to some people who know all that has happened. He wants to change. He is changing. I see him choosing the right actions each day--choosing to treat me with more respect, listening to me now like he hasn't in the past. But that does not erase the past. He knows that. I've made that clear to him. He also knows that if things begin to escalate to the point where I feel like I am in any kind of danger--or the kids might be in any kind of danger--I will leave and not come back.
Right now, I am in the process of getting a full time job. He agrees to this for the first time ever. What I have not shared with him is that I want this job as insurance that if I ever need to leave I will already have a means of supporting myself and our 5 children.
It is so so easy for others to say, "If it was me, I would've been gone way before now." But unless you have ever been in a situation like I've been, it is very hard to understand. I did not come to this forum to be criticized. I can get that anywhere else. Do you really think that helps me any? Do you think I feel any less shame when I am criticized for trying to do what is right (trying to hold my marriage together one last time)? Do you think those comments are empowering?? NO. And I say this as someone who understands why you say those things. I know you are well intentioned. I know it is because it is hard to see someone in my situation.
I have come a long way in healing. At least I am no longer having flashbacks every other day. They come less than once a month now. But I know I need to face much more of what happened to me so that I can be completely free.

Oh, thanks for saying, "Please take care of yourself, you don't deserve this kind of treatment." That really was helpful. thanks.
 
I'm sorry that you felt attacked. Yes, I do know how it is to be in that kind of a situation. I was married to a real jerk for 7 yrs, and then ended up in a nasty relationship with a control freak shortly after, when I was at my worst with PTSD.... So, yes, I do know how it is, and I also know how hard it can be to get out of.......

I'm glad that you are getting a job, and hope that if things don't go well, that you and your children can get out of this mess and be safe together. Hopefully your husband really will change for the better....

I meant it when I said that you don't deserve this kind of treatment. NO woman does, not just you. I learned to never take any crap from any man, I will walk, run, or fight my way out if I need to.......

Take care.....
 
flowers I have read both your posts and both of She Cats and I do not believe from what I have read that you were being criticized, although if you have not read anything else of the forum or anything of she cats then maybe this would explain why you might feel that you were being criticised. I really believe that She Cat was offering some support and acknowledging where you are coming from. as many of us will be able to do for you.


I also have been in this kind of situtation so I also understand and I think you may well find a few other people, both men and women have been where you are now.

I commend you for your strength any for seeking employment so that you have a way out financially, that is a good practical thing to be looking to do.

I have to comment though on your first post above that :


"But before things got really bad, I had 5 miscarriages in 7 years."

How much worse did it need to get?

And in your second post:

"It is so so easy for others to say, "If it was me, I would've been gone way before now." But unless you have ever been in a situation like I've been, it is very hard to understand. I did not come to this forum to be criticized. I can get that anywhere else. Do you really think that helps me any? Do you think I feel any less shame when I am criticized for trying to do what is right (trying to hold my marriage together one last time)? Do you think those comments are empowering?? NO. And I say this as someone who understands why you say those things. I know you are well intentioned."

Is it possible that She Cat might have been saying she would have got out before because she might have some understanding? Before she was trying to let you know that you don't have to feel guilty and shame and all the other things you have said you feel.

Which I have to say here, I think you may be in some denial about getting over flashbacks, is it possible that you are becoming numbed to what has been happening to you? you have said this in your first post:


"The last time he forced me was just 3 months ago. But I am so numb right now, I feel almost nothing. I can pretend nothing happened, but then the rest of my life is messed up because I have almost no motivation...Things I used to enjoy just seem hum-drum. I blame myself for everything. Maybe if I was a better wife...but I know the truth--just don't want to face it"


PLease don't assume we are well intentioned do gooders here, we are on this same road to healing, and supportive of one another in the process.


PLease read and read again and read more, and also look back to your posts as well, because the two you have posted show to me someone that is in conflict, not only with an abusive partner, who I also hope is trying to change, but with themself.

You are openly saying in your first post that you can't do this and in your second post you are making allowances and excuses fro someone elses behaviour as well as your own. I am hoping that your children are not seeing all of this, the thing is they will be no matter how much we think they aren't.


please get some help, seek guidance and help.
And read here flowers as much as possible because while it is empowering, it is empowering you in a fight with PTSD.

We do not judge here we at some point may well have been in the same place as you and either in our own denial or trying to save something.

I hope you are right and that things change I really do, but please be safe.

Think about your daughters and sons, you didnt say what your children are, but please remember that your childrens esteem and values are also carried down in how they see mummy and daddy treat each other.

I hope that you do not think that I am critising you flowers, I really am not. I think you already know what you maybe have to do and are stuck and tied at the moment to something maybe. We are here and will support you if we can but the thing you can do for yourself is to educate and empower yourself.

There is so much here in shared pain and triumph flowers please read as much as you are able.


Bless you

~fin
 
*****
I have to say that I dont think he knows you wont come back, you said above that you have left him 5 times in 4 years, he very much thinks you will come back, because you have done, over and over.
*****


And I think it will be helpfull if you read as much as you can, that is what you will find the helpful bit flowers. This bit that She Cat spoke to you is kindness, truth and soft words:

"Please take care of yourself, you don't deserve this kind of treatment...."

No matter what you have been told, you don't deserve any of what has happened flowers, and neither do your children. PLease seek help and support and please read as much as possible here so that it will help your judgement. And help you to become equipped to what and how you can cope.



I really hope things will work out for you. But I do think you have come here because you are in trouble maybe, and are seeking answers and support. I don't think it is necessarily right to ask us to support you in what we see as you being abused. Please know that we are here for you.

One of the first things you need to do to be able to start healing is be safe.
~
 
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