My husband's CPTSD flared up big time this summer '23, with two triggers.
His PTSD is from childhood abuse, a mass shooting killing a dozen people at his work (3 years ago), and our young adult daughter's rape (2 years ago).
His symptoms had mostly been depression, but some medication handled it overall, and he would isolate/grumpy some, but things were okay... not great, but okay.
On what felt like a random June day-- I had a trip for work to the Middle East planned for August, and my husband had a nightmare that I was having an affair with a coworker.
I've done international trips for work before, although not to the Middle East. I had agreed to be a speaker for a group of people who work with refugees and my work had checked things out that where we were going, and the city we were in, was safe. I know people who have done this speaker series before. Tickets were bought and people had their travel plans to attend the event. He knew it was coming for a year and never said anything about even being concerned about it. He looked to see that the country is listed by the state department as concerning and totally lost it.
I've never had an affair- in fact, I'm a really conventional (boring) Christian overweight middle-aged lady who married my husband at age 21 and never had another relationship but him. I don't go out or even spend time with men alone. The co-worker he had the nightmare about is a young guy I was assigned as a mentor at work- he's young enough to be my son. But no special relationship- never even gotten together with him outside of work meetings.
So when my husband woke me up on a Saturday morning to tell me that he thought the nightmare was real, and that I should have known he didn't want me to go to the MIddle East. He yelled and berated me for hours that day, and every few days after that for weeks. I was deeply confused. I actually thought maybe he had a stroke or something. I tried to convince him that his two triggers weren't real- they seemed so bizarre. I have some training in trauma but it "just couldn't be that" in my mind because the content was so strange and he NEVER acted like this.
Fast forward- I actually got Covid and couldn't go on the trip to the Middle East. But we are now 6 months later and he is frequently Spinning in his emotions. Isolating, slamming doors, yelling at me for hours, blaming me for the trauma, saying I can't be trusted, hurling accusations. He wants to control all my work decisions and keeps telling me that I need to submit to him as head of the household (He has never said this before). He was triggered and drove so erratically this summer on a trip with our adult children and my mother in the car that they don't want to drive with him. He refused to let someone else drive at that time (I wish I had said I would get a rental car then and refused to get in the car). We have been married for 30 years and he has always been mild-mannered and if he gets angry it's like 1 sentence of anger and then he would walk out. I hated the walk-out (some of my own anxiety about abandonment in life) but he NEVER did this. Now he says he has always thought this way, that I'm abusive and terrible. Well, he vacillates between the yelling and emotional unloading and being apologetic and tearful. He doesn't want me to spend time with other people, wants me to quit my job (which is more than half our income), says I'm too enmeshed with my extended family locally and shouldn't spend time with them, has cut off his relationships with others, was drinking some, driving erratically, telling me to leave him (yes, I know.. red flags and I am still spending time with family, friends and not quitting my job or making major work decisions based on what he thinks I should do).
Two weeks ago, he got upset and went to a room in our home, took out a gun and pointed it to his head and said "goodbye" and shut the door. I called 911, stepped into the front yard not sure if I was about to hear a gunshot or if he would point the gun at me, and the police came. He was calm by the time they all arrived, and I do actually believe it was a desperate cry for help, not an intent to suicide. But a little piece of me still worries. People with PTSD kill themselves. He agreed for them to temporarily take his guns away- he went back and got them a few days ago without mentioning it to me. He is so incredibly distressed.
I know the responsibility for his trauma is not mine-- but with his parents, the shooter at his work, and our daughter's rapist. That while I haven't been perfect, I haven't done any major offenses (no affair, no abandonment, no substance abuse...). I have said angry things over the years that I shouldn't have said, but not frequently-- maybe a few times a year and then apologized that I didn't mean it. But those things are all conflated with his traumas. I'm getting all the heaps of fiery coals of hate.
I try really hard to empathize with the trauma- but the nightmare-affair-that-wasn't and the international trip feel like delusions and reinforcing them as real threats feels like it just distracts him from the real traumas. But he feels super-betrayed that I don't recognize them as real threats. I've softly and kindly, when he wasn't triggered, said that I think the real trauma are the things listed at the top here, not the nightmare and trip but he can't disengage from them as the biggest threat. This is a really big deal... that he wants me to join him in the belief that these are real and present danger.
He started treatment with EMDR, working on his childhood. We started couple therapy, and he is trying. We went to a prayer conference for a few days, and it was helpful to access our shared faith and calmed things some. I have a glimmer of hope. But he is still spinning out 2-3 times a week-- that I see. Likely more.
We've been married 30 years, two adults kids that live with us, planning our sweet daughter's wedding this summer, and my extended family is always supportive. Also I take vows very seriously in sickness or health so don't suggest to leave him- I won't leave unless he physically harms me or makes things so unsafe I can't live in the same home.
I'm trying to stay calm, to work on my own feelings of abandonment, anxiety, and injustice at being blamed for things.
I think I just need to write this out... and maybe some shared experience?
Any lived experience of someone who is getting blame and finding ways to make it work?
His PTSD is from childhood abuse, a mass shooting killing a dozen people at his work (3 years ago), and our young adult daughter's rape (2 years ago).
His symptoms had mostly been depression, but some medication handled it overall, and he would isolate/grumpy some, but things were okay... not great, but okay.
On what felt like a random June day-- I had a trip for work to the Middle East planned for August, and my husband had a nightmare that I was having an affair with a coworker.
I've done international trips for work before, although not to the Middle East. I had agreed to be a speaker for a group of people who work with refugees and my work had checked things out that where we were going, and the city we were in, was safe. I know people who have done this speaker series before. Tickets were bought and people had their travel plans to attend the event. He knew it was coming for a year and never said anything about even being concerned about it. He looked to see that the country is listed by the state department as concerning and totally lost it.
I've never had an affair- in fact, I'm a really conventional (boring) Christian overweight middle-aged lady who married my husband at age 21 and never had another relationship but him. I don't go out or even spend time with men alone. The co-worker he had the nightmare about is a young guy I was assigned as a mentor at work- he's young enough to be my son. But no special relationship- never even gotten together with him outside of work meetings.
So when my husband woke me up on a Saturday morning to tell me that he thought the nightmare was real, and that I should have known he didn't want me to go to the MIddle East. He yelled and berated me for hours that day, and every few days after that for weeks. I was deeply confused. I actually thought maybe he had a stroke or something. I tried to convince him that his two triggers weren't real- they seemed so bizarre. I have some training in trauma but it "just couldn't be that" in my mind because the content was so strange and he NEVER acted like this.
Fast forward- I actually got Covid and couldn't go on the trip to the Middle East. But we are now 6 months later and he is frequently Spinning in his emotions. Isolating, slamming doors, yelling at me for hours, blaming me for the trauma, saying I can't be trusted, hurling accusations. He wants to control all my work decisions and keeps telling me that I need to submit to him as head of the household (He has never said this before). He was triggered and drove so erratically this summer on a trip with our adult children and my mother in the car that they don't want to drive with him. He refused to let someone else drive at that time (I wish I had said I would get a rental car then and refused to get in the car). We have been married for 30 years and he has always been mild-mannered and if he gets angry it's like 1 sentence of anger and then he would walk out. I hated the walk-out (some of my own anxiety about abandonment in life) but he NEVER did this. Now he says he has always thought this way, that I'm abusive and terrible. Well, he vacillates between the yelling and emotional unloading and being apologetic and tearful. He doesn't want me to spend time with other people, wants me to quit my job (which is more than half our income), says I'm too enmeshed with my extended family locally and shouldn't spend time with them, has cut off his relationships with others, was drinking some, driving erratically, telling me to leave him (yes, I know.. red flags and I am still spending time with family, friends and not quitting my job or making major work decisions based on what he thinks I should do).
Two weeks ago, he got upset and went to a room in our home, took out a gun and pointed it to his head and said "goodbye" and shut the door. I called 911, stepped into the front yard not sure if I was about to hear a gunshot or if he would point the gun at me, and the police came. He was calm by the time they all arrived, and I do actually believe it was a desperate cry for help, not an intent to suicide. But a little piece of me still worries. People with PTSD kill themselves. He agreed for them to temporarily take his guns away- he went back and got them a few days ago without mentioning it to me. He is so incredibly distressed.
I know the responsibility for his trauma is not mine-- but with his parents, the shooter at his work, and our daughter's rapist. That while I haven't been perfect, I haven't done any major offenses (no affair, no abandonment, no substance abuse...). I have said angry things over the years that I shouldn't have said, but not frequently-- maybe a few times a year and then apologized that I didn't mean it. But those things are all conflated with his traumas. I'm getting all the heaps of fiery coals of hate.
I try really hard to empathize with the trauma- but the nightmare-affair-that-wasn't and the international trip feel like delusions and reinforcing them as real threats feels like it just distracts him from the real traumas. But he feels super-betrayed that I don't recognize them as real threats. I've softly and kindly, when he wasn't triggered, said that I think the real trauma are the things listed at the top here, not the nightmare and trip but he can't disengage from them as the biggest threat. This is a really big deal... that he wants me to join him in the belief that these are real and present danger.
He started treatment with EMDR, working on his childhood. We started couple therapy, and he is trying. We went to a prayer conference for a few days, and it was helpful to access our shared faith and calmed things some. I have a glimmer of hope. But he is still spinning out 2-3 times a week-- that I see. Likely more.
We've been married 30 years, two adults kids that live with us, planning our sweet daughter's wedding this summer, and my extended family is always supportive. Also I take vows very seriously in sickness or health so don't suggest to leave him- I won't leave unless he physically harms me or makes things so unsafe I can't live in the same home.
I'm trying to stay calm, to work on my own feelings of abandonment, anxiety, and injustice at being blamed for things.
I think I just need to write this out... and maybe some shared experience?
Any lived experience of someone who is getting blame and finding ways to make it work?
