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Relationship I just cant do this anymore

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@DFT1 - don't wait for something catastrophic to happen.
How violent is violent enough for you?
How often is often enough for you?
4 years of therapy and this sort of thing is still happening? See your lawyer and take care of your daughters.

She actually assaulted the women in this latest incident as you have described.
And as you described on other occasions it appears she has assaulted you.
It doesn't matter what her height is. What matters is behaviour. Nobody gets a free pass for abusive and violent behaviour. Female and male.

She either accepts that you cheated and moves on in the relationship or she refuses to accept what you did and she moves out of the relationship. That is the choice you both have. She is not entitled to oppress you *and your daughter's with chaotic or drunken behaviour. You do not deserve this type of behaviour from anyone. Ever.

Oh and by the way...saying you cannot remember something because you were soo drunk...is not an excuse. She is and remains responsible for her behaviour.
 
@DFT1 - don't wait for something catastrophic to happen.
How violent is violent enough for you?
How often is often enough for you?
4 years of therapy and this sort of thing is still happening? See your lawyer and take care of your daughters.

She actually assaulted the women in this latest incident as you have described.
And as you described on other occasions it appears she has assaulted you.
It doesn't matter what her height is. What matters is behaviour. Nobody gets a free pass for abusive and violent behaviour. Female and male.

Four years ago, right after the affair came to light, I was sitting in a chair and she was standing next to me and grabbed a rock/small boulder and started swinging at my head with it in her hand. She stopped herself, and I told her if she ever did anything like that again, I was done. I know the devastation of my actions was overwhelming, and while it was inexcusable and horrible behavior on my part, it did not justify physical violence (or the threat of it) in any way what-so-ever.

It was extremely out of character for her, and since then she has absolutely respected that boundary... until last Friday night when she was intoxicated. I cant help but feel like that was different. She wasn't the person I know and love. She was someone else completely, and I believe the alcohol was the cause of it. I am confident she wouldn't do that sober. The only other 'violent outbursts' have been subdued and not directed at me, such as slamming things around, and they have been getting much better with therapy. That's why I am waiting for her to have her appointment tomorrow before making any rash decisions.

IMHO I agree, that she assaulted the other girl. However, that other girl seemed to take it in stride, which was strange (although, she is also a CSA survivor, so maybe that has something to do with it). That is the same girl who told me that last year at the same party (its an annual, weekend long thing) my wife was really aggressive with her, grabbing and biting her breasts, but she left it at that. I'm not sure if that's where their actions stopped or if more happened. That was also a night where my wife was up drinking (until she was vomiting at 4:30am I was told). All of the borderline cheating actions over our 24 year relationship have always involved alcohol.

That isn't to excuse them, or justify them in some way. I just believe that without the alcohol, they wouldn't happen. If she is willing to seriously to commit to knocking it off, than I am willing to give her another chance. She gave me another chance after I did something devastating, and I am willing to give her another chance as well.


She either accepts that you cheated and moves on in the relationship or she refuses to accept what you did and she moves out of the relationship. That is the choice you both have.

Thats my biggest concern with all of this. I have done everything she has asked, and somethings that she hasn't asked for since she really never tells me what she needs, so I have to guess. I answered every question she has asked to the absolute best of my ability, bought her new wedding rings, gave her all my passwords to all my devices, shared my location with her via google maps so she can see where I am at any time, I have been a complete open book with nothing to hide. I've wrote apology letters, I lived in the garage for a couple of weeks to give her the space she said she needed, I leave her little business card sized notes randomly telling her things I love about her, read all the books, applied everything from couples counseling as best I could, all of the things you are supposed to do.

It feels like she just cannot forgive me even tho it has been 4 years and as our last couples therapist said in her opinion I have gone above and beyond what most wayward spouses do, and I actually took on too much of the responsibility for the repair attempts. I do NOT expect her to just 'get over it', thats not what forgiveness is. Its more for her than it is for me. She says she can't because she is "stuck" because of the PTSD.
 
Good luck with the therapy appointment. ^^^ There are a lot of things to change. I see you justifying behaviour from your wife which really -alcohol or not...is not justified.

You have a long term relationship and I can see you are very committed to preserving. I am not sure, from what you have described if she is showing the same level of respect and commitment in return or is willing to start doing so.

I really do hope you can find your way forward.

All the best.
 
Have you considered whether this extreme behaviour may be BPD related?

From having been in a relationship with someone who had BPD, I know of a good website/ forum that specialises in those kind of relationships.

It's called "BPDfamily".

They are incredibly knowledgable about "how to make it work with a massively challenging partner who is unwell" if that's what you want/ choose to do and also "how to exit the relationship" if that's what you want to do and also in working out which is the best option. It's an incredibly patient, supportive community, that may be able to give you more specific advice re dealing with those behaviours.

I've read the behaviours you describe in your wife on that website hundreds of times.

I ended up ending my relationship with my BPD ex - it was way too intense, a total emotional rollercoaster and he was not addressing his issues and not seeking help and not improving and I didn't want to subject myself to that kind of toxic stuff. I still care about him and hope he is happy, but I know I cannot deal with his stuff.
 
I see you justifying behaviour from your wife which really -alcohol or not...is not justified.

You're probably not wrong.

Have you considered whether this extreme behaviour may be BPD related?

From what I understand, isnt there some overlap in PTSD and BPD? As in a lot of people with one have symptoms of the other, and are frequently misdiagnosed?

I'm sorry you had to go through that. From the stories I have seen, without therapy/help you either have to learn to live with it or cut ties. Considering ending my relationship is hard enough, and that is with her getting help. I imagine it was really hard to walk away when you are telling yourself 'if they would just get some help'
 
From what I understand, isnt there some overlap in PTSD and BPD? As in a lot of people with one have symptoms of the other, and are frequently misdiagnosed?
Many, many mental health diagnoses overlap in their symptom sets.

CPTSD (complex PTSD), which isn't an official diagnosis per the DSM V but is upcoming in the ICD 11 - shares a number of BPD traits...but even that doesn't necessarily make a responsible clinician mistake one for the other. Personality disorders are difficult to diagnose. PTSD, somewhat less so - but all mental health diagnoses depend in large part on self-reporting, and so, the process can be quite flawed.

The good news is, treatment modalities also overlap as well. Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is still the gold standard for treatment of Borderline PD, and it's also incredibly useful to PTSD sufferers (as well as those dealing with depression, anxiety..)

You might consider getting some education in CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), or DBT, for yourself. A relationship with someone who is mentally ill has a lot of challenges, and there can be a lot of intense emotionality to deal with. You can't deal with her reactions for her, but you can look for ways to get some relief for your own stress - and, a lot of the communication stuff that is part of DBT is just straight-up effective, whether it's dealing with mental health problems OR with someone who has them.
 
I would suggest that you need to get your own place for you and your daughters, until she has stopped drinking. You can't let your daughters grow up in such an abusive environment. You are letting them be subject to a volitile, abusive, insecure, uncertain, anxiety causing situation. This will have life long consequences for them in term of their mental and physical health and their ability to concentrate at school which could effect their educational outcomes during their lives. Think about how you are being treated and consider whether you will be happy if they are treated like that by their partners when they grow up. What you two model to them about relationships will be what they will feel comfortable as adults. You are abdicating your responsibility as a parent. I would suggest that you look into getting your own place, install your high end computer for work, and your daughters there, and let them see their Mother in a neutral space, when she is sober. The fact the children are finding Mummy ''sleeping" because she is passed out again, is neglect by both you and your partner. If the children are calling her passing out "sleeping" then this has gone on for way too long. You are in denial about what you both are doing to your children. I would suggest that you need therapy, to assist you in being a parent to your daughters instead of doing all this enabling.
 
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One thing I learned that may or may not work for you: when in relationships, always stay out of politicizing. You being a guy and her being a girl or reverse domestic abuse (head or body) does not matter. What you have is a very challenging relationship. One way to peace is having your own group of support people like therapist to help you make a sound decision. To me, you sound more you lost your self agency than anything else. Her thoughts took over you. I hope you find help.
 
f*ck the cheating that alone will end any relationship. the fighting all the time and the violence all this thats going between you two those girls see and hear it they know what is going on. do the best you can keep those little ones safe all thats going on bless there little souls. i think its over with your wife let it go and do the right thing for your family. i hope things work out for your family. god bless you and your family. loner
 
A couple of quick notes: she hasnt had a drop to drink in almost a week. The kids do not see the violence, but she has subjected them to some messed up stuff years ago.I dont know where the 'fighting all the time' is coming from but we dont.

Having said that...

She had her appt with her T on Wednesday. It turns out she didnt really talk with her about how much she was drinking or what happened over last weekend.

She then went on saying while at first she thought it was me being nice and trying to support her by telling her drinking that much would hinder her EMDR, it was actually bad information and her T had never heard of it being an issue. I then asked in a very playful manner, "well ya, but did you tell her you were drinking until blackout?" That was a mistake to her. She got really pissy. Then calmed herself and said I was being punitive.

I explained that I got that information from reading posts here, she got a little snippy and said "so its just two peoples experience"

There was a conversation that followed that I do not feel like typing out right now involving me calling her out on the drinking problems and her even agreeing, me just trying to support her and her critizing me for it by saying I was giving her bad info, this being an abusive relationship and she isnt taking that seriously enough to even talk to her T about, and more that I jotted down in my journal.

She left and locked herself in the bedroom. I'll give her the space she needs, but this whole situation is just ridiculous.
 
She left and locked herself in the bedroom. I'll give her the space she needs, but this whole situation is just ridiculous.

She does seem to like high drama and either not coming home or leaving when she cannot persuade you to believe her behaviour is actually acceptable. Emotional blackmail comes to mind.

So you set the boundary that you would wait for her to see her therapist and review the situation after this. You put a lot of stock in her receiving some kind of guidance from this therapist. Now that she hasn't addressed the binge drinking with the therapist what are your plans if any?

Not having a drop for a week isn't that big a deal. Especially when she does have a drop she actually drops completely off the radar due to black-out. There are plenty of alcoholics who are binge drinkers only. ie They don't drink every day but when they do they don't stop.

How old approx are these daughters?

This ptsd and binge drinking didn't start a month ago... How long have you been doing this with your wife?
 
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