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General What To Do To Stay Sain In An Insain World

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roecool67

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My name is Heather and I am new to this forum. My husband has severe complex PTSD.

His therapist say's it's the worse case she has ever seen and its rooted in severe severe child abuse, but also many other events such as a friend run into a room with him in it and committing suicide by gun in front of him. His brother was paralyzed from neck on down last November in a drunk driving accident with his nephew driving after leaving his mother house partying who is also in the end stages of alcoholism. He had 14 surgeries and had last rites read twice after a doctor left a metal clamp in his bile duct. He was molested by his cousin and a neighbour. His dad severely abused him physically, mentally, spiritually, and his mom did nothing due to narcissism alcohol and drugs and a crack addiction, and to make it worse he called his father on his death bed and asked him to come see him in the hospital and his dad said f**k off, never spoke to him again then died four years later.

He should have been a professional athlete. He was a person that excelled in every single sport he ever did based on having to keep himself in shape to deal with dad. His dad was even afraid of him when he was about 14 because he was so built from abuse. In the past 9 months alone, he had his brother's and nephew's car accident, his aunt was murdered, his granma died, his uncle died of cancer, his mothers dying, his best friend is dying from severe alcoholism and a heart transplant, his son is addicted to roxies and has been homeless off and on and criminal at times, I mean he has I think at the last count, 13 major tragedies in the past 9 months alone.

In regards to our relationship, he is a nightmare to deal with and yet I love him deeply with all my heart and I have empathy because I recognize for him to act out like he does it must correlate to the severity of child abuse he endured, let alone everything else over his lifetime.

He is in therapy and EMDR which is really working very well. but when he snaps its HORRIBLE! I have been beat up, spit on and pushed. food smeared all over my face and hair, like oatmeal and scrambled eggs. I have many many items such as computers, stereos, etc destroyed and thrown. the house gets destroyed, my belongings get thrown all over, I get bank cards taken from me, I've had severe bruises and bumps on my body, my thumb has been broken, blood vessels popped, my shoulder dislocated, etc. Constant terrible vulgar insults regarding me in all ways of my person, walked home in the middle of the night and slept outside on my patio and in my car and this list goes on.

It may sound like it but I am NOT A COMPLIANT VICTIM. I have faith and empathy for the human spirit and believe all can be overcome if a human truly wants to but it will require a severe overhaul mentally physically spiritually or body mind and soul. He knows this and is working truly very hard and his therapist says he is the best patient she has due to his fervent desire to heal and to not allow it to rule, or the ghost of the past to rule his life any more.

So, my question to all of you or any of you, how do I not take it personally, I keep my mouth shut and try to let it run its course but often its really hard because no human should have to take this. Once he is locked in I cant do anything until it runs its course. He cant be persuaded to think logically. I need help. I am not scared of him.. I can protect myself when needed and have friends in place to call upon. but how do I learn to not walk on eggshells, lashing out when I cant take anymore, fighting back. anybody have anything to tell me to help myself, help him, any coping mechanisms for me?

I dont want to hear leave the relationship here at this forum. He has been abandoned all his life and I don't shoot my wounded

Thank you
 
Welcome to the forum Roe. You may want to post this in the Supporter's section that is found just above the PTSD section as you will get more answers that are directly from other supporters that have been in your position and can give you appropriate support and advice.

Bec
 

it may sound like it but i am NOT A COMPLIANT VICTIM. i have faith and empathy for the human spirit and believe all can be overcome if a human truly wants to but it will require a severe overhaul mentally physically spiritually or body mind and soul.

I understand this very well. However, at the risk of upsetting you, I'm going to say that based on my own experiences, that faith and empathy, whilst admirable and truly a beautiful thing in a person, can be thoroughly heart-breaking and soul-breaking, and in my case, it nearly got me killed.

My ex has a similar past to what you've described your partner's as, and I stayed in that relationship because I believe the things you believe. I had absolute faith in him. I believed I was strong, I could protect myself, I had friends to help me when I needed it - and those things were all true. However, walking on eggshells, lashing out and fighting back - all of that is familiar, too. I did those things. They made things much, much worse, not better. I basically enabled the abuse he was dishing out, and I hate admitting it but in the end I think I gave back in a way, too. The end result was that I ended up shattered, an emotional mess, unable to function. I left him, and less than a month after I left him he tried to kill me.

Please don't stop reading here - I'm not telling you to leave him, just giving the background on why I feel like I can respond the way I am to your post.

I understand that you love him and want to help him, but you're putting your physical and mental wellbeing at extreme risk by putting yourself through the things he does when he snaps and despite your assurance that you're not a compliant victim, you are. Simply by allowing him to do these things when he snaps, you're being compliant, which basically reinforces to him that he can do those things to you - no matter how much you protest or how well you can protect yourself or what kind of horrible past he has and what stress he's under, it's still abuse, and you're still essentially allowing it.

I don't believe you should give up on him or leave him. I do think you and he might need to see a psychologist together perhaps, someone who can suggest ways for you to cope with him, someone who can listen to how bad things get when he snaps and maybe ways for him to redirect his rage and frustration when things are like that, and ways that you can help him with that.

I wish you both well and safe, and I truly hope that you can find a way to work through things together.
 
Roe - I won't tell you to leave you husband, but you need to curb his behavior. Maybe you two could use a 'safe word'. I know it's normally used in 'other' situations, but when things are getting out of control, one of you can say the word and that means you both get up and go to separate rooms until things cool back down again. I have no experience with your situation and am just trying to generate ideas, so you can take or leave them as you like.

In other news - after the poster I haven't heard anything back from my dad - not even a thank you. And he didn't thank me when I fixed all his websites either, even though I had to get some of my friends involved to get it work. My brother has offered to pay for a rental car for me to go visit my dad and talk things through, but he says he understands that I need to work on healing myself first and so I can just let him know when I'm ready. Having someone who doesn't understand but still validates and supports you is an amazing thing. I never thought anyone would be there for me other than my fiance.
 
Chesire, thank you.

It was very very kind what you said and I greatly appreciate it. I will take in all you have said and hold on to it as I try to work through all of this. Maybe at some point it will get better or I will have to leave. I have no problem leaving if I really have to but it goes back to the belief thing and I'm not ready to let go yet.

Thank you, thank you so much
 
Hi Roe and welcome.

I have moved your thread, from amongst a PTSD Sufferer thread, to the Supporters section as it was separate to the topic discussed.
 
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