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Relationships during therapy

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Relationships during therapy

Postby Dandy » Mon Nov 05, 2018 12:59 pm

We've been having some severe fights since I started therapy.

And now my SO basically said that he hasn't changed, even if that's a how I feel (I still don't think this is completely true) But I've changed and "figured out a few neat things like I was looking to be better and a sort of show off." This is pretty much how it was presented to me during an angry outburst. :?

He then shouted I should get over it (stop pretending?) and get real with actually being just like he is. But duh, I'm in therapy, this IS who I am now! I've never been like him and I'm really not the type to pretend.

This is really starting to eat me up and become an issue. Have you experienced something similar during therapy and among the close relationships? Just how much should, and can be tolerated?
What do you think?

This makes me so sad.
"One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes"

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Re: Relationships during therapy

Postby Tanoujin » Tue Nov 06, 2018 6:01 am

Sorry, I did not read your previous posts - so I am not very good orientated about your circumstances. But I wonder how we even can avoid to change? Don‘t we change all the time, no matter if we want or not, no matter if we try to be on the helm or just floating in the current and the wind?
I am curious what your partner really wants to say - there is a conflict, but it needs to be unveiled. Agression comes from frustration. What does he want? Why doesn‘t he support your therapy? What is he afraid of?
There is the possibility to draw him into your therapy and have a couple session. You might want to talk about all this in detail with your therapist.
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Re: Relationships during therapy

Postby Dandy » Tue Nov 06, 2018 6:54 am

Yeah, that is what I was wondering. We can't avoid change.

We were having a horrible fight, posted this elsewhere:
A couple of days ago we went for a walk with my SO, he put his glasses on and a new jacket, he hasn't been wearing those glasses in 5 years or something so it oddly triggered my fluctuating trust towards him - it's been previously proved that my SO is sometimes doing things to provoke, like he is testing me and like it would prove something. It's actually quite odd.
And now he was looking just like this guy who's kinda been following me, I know, there's no obvious connection, but it bothered me so I said he looked just like him. My SO was then looking to ask for more, but it had a premise for a fight and I didn't want to fight, so I dodged it and became quiet.

So yesterday, I'm about to go to bathroom but there's a chaos and water on a floor. So I yell, why haven't you done what you're supposed to, what you promised the last time! Yes I yelled, I was annoyed it wasn't the first time this happened.
My SO is sitting there with headphones on, the kind that blocks external noise.
He comes to me and asks with a blank face if there's something else that is so upsetting for me, to which I reply there isn't, at this point I really was just slightly annoyed. He is still being deadpan, I can't read him, but it seems like he doesn't believe me.
We get into an argument where he claims I was just shouting at him out of the blue, claiming I'm ruining everyone's atmosphere. Even though this is something I've requested many times before and as a rule who last leaves the bathroom after sauna, shall be cleaning the floor.
But he is claiming these incidents are not even related, supposedly I was just shouting without an obvious reason and I was shouting at him.

But recently when he was shouting to our son for similar reasons, after mentioning what ever the problem was at the time for a few times in a row, his behaviour was justified and it was ok for him to raise his voice (I didn't go claiming he is now ruining it for everyone, did I). But for me this behaviour is not allowed, because the difference is he did it all at once, for me there was a continuum, but it was within one week.

He then goes as far as claiming I'm thick for not getting this rule he has just set, and that people trolling me are right. Where did that even come from? How absurdly selfish is that?!, setting rules and calling others with names if they disagree. Getting backup from imaginary people.
He proceeds to put me down, subtly calling me with a couple of other names.
And then he says (again) this is it, he want's to break up. "I was intentionally provoking him by saying he resembles a guy I've deemed nasty. I did it on purpose, to be mean! And I was yelling"
So due to these things it was justified and okay for him to call me with names and try to provoke me with trolls. He admitted looking to provoke me on purpose, and it was what he thought I was doing the day before.
But I can sincerely say I wasn't. He claimed I'm judging the way he looks, when I've never done that and I never would. I've said he's got conservative shorts, but that's as far as I'd go.
It's all just lies.

Then he alternated with everything being ok and actually wanting to break up. Saying if I break up with him for a third time, he is never taking me back! I've done that yes, it was because he became addicted to computer games. But now he is like designing a bullet that's intended to hurt me as much as possible. He even says he wishes I'd go and leave him, like that's what he is hoping for.
It's obvious his stance is, he is better than me and I should be lucky to have him. Really?! this nasty person ridden with penalties, revenge and getting even with people.

At some point I get really fed up and yell from top of my lungs, "I've had enough! Enough with this $#%^!"

Later he is looking to hug me, but I don't want to. He never takes back what he says.

Have a ten rounds like this and you'll see why I find it difficult to trust him.


I'm so tired.
This isn't exactly why I created this topic, I was hoping to keep it more generic.
But I don't even care anymore. We've been to couples therapy, he just agreed on being more thoughtful, but didn't stick with it. Actually, it seems like he hasn't been thinking anything AT All.

I'd never intentionally hurt anyone, or stealthily want to slash him - on a yard while going for a walk. So I'm wondering where this sudden change in perspective, and such reactions to something fictitious are coming from.
Honestly, I don't currently trust him at all.
"One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes"

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Re: Relationships during therapy

Postby Tanoujin » Tue Nov 06, 2018 9:31 pm

Oh my... so sorry for you! You both are pretty much escalated in your relation already...
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Re: Relationships during therapy

Postby Dandy » Wed Nov 07, 2018 7:30 am

I had a scheduled session and my therapist was worried.
All is quiet and peaceful and then he goes on and drops a bomb, he is offering me a hand and then pushes off the cliff.. offering his a hand again. It hurts.
It's just so disadvantageous, if not for him, since he is currently thinking and being vocal about it being just another fight, but it is for me and my development.

I suppose that's what the therapist was thinking since she was suggesting my SO to join with me to one of our sessions. Considering the nature of my therapy and the benefits I'm receiving, I don't think it's that common for anyone else to join. But we'll see.

So none of you have had issues or relationship dynamics changing while in therapy?
"One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes"

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Re: Relationships during therapy

Postby skilsaw » Thu Nov 08, 2018 2:38 am

Dandy,
I'm sorry to read of the fighting you and your SO are experiencing...
I don't believe in a Good Guy and a Bad Guy. Responsibility is always shared. It isn't necessarily 50/50 but it takes two to fight.

I'm in favor of you having a shared session or two with your therapist. If nothing else, the SO will have the opportunity to learn about what you are going through. A neutral third party is often a significant help in solving problems that are loaded with emotion and history.

The real loser in the situation is your children. My parents fought terribly and it filled me with fear and loathing. As a kid, I could see that they were both wrong and each contributed to escalating the situation.

This won't get better on it's own. You need help and it is obvious things are not working. Something has to change. If you can't decide together what needs to change and then work on it constructively, one of you has to decide to go it alone. That's the sad truth. Sometimes it is just a time out. Other times it is a permanent separation.

Fighting fills me with pain, even though I was a fighter. I guess I learned how much I lost in life, even when I won the fight.

I think the most important thing is you taking personal responsibility for yourself and working hard on making necessary changes that help you in life. Everything is secondary to that.

take care,
skilsaw
It is not always possible to make someone's discomfort go away.
Sometimes, the best thing we can do is resist the urge to fix it and instead just say, "You, too?"
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Re: Relationships during therapy

Postby Dandy » Thu Nov 08, 2018 9:05 am

I have clarified how him appearing like the harasser triggered my unsafe feelings, insecurity and lacking privacy. Fyi they've been taken away from me, forcibly and several times.

Told him there's nothing funny about this, not for me and especially not for the kid, it should be obvious no one is laughing. And exhorted him to either talk to me about his true feelings or alternatively joining my therapy sessions and also taking care of extra cost for requiring lengthier sessions. I fairly well remember our couples therapy and how evasive he was, it annoyed me at the time, since such attitude is just wasting everyone's time. I am NOT going to pay for it.

Currently these are the options available. I don't want to be with a person intentionally making me feel miserable.

This was all delivered in written form, to be clear and to offer him some time to think about his opinion. But I didn't yet receive a proper answer. Just c'mon don't be silly give me a hug.

My therapist suggested maybe he does indeed want to break up, but doesn't know how to talk about it. But when questioned he replied, some days he does and some days he doesn't. Is this really what grown men are supposed to be like. :roll:
"One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes"

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Re: Relationships during therapy

Postby skilsaw » Thu Nov 22, 2018 3:56 am

Dandy wrote: My therapist suggested maybe he does indeed want to break up, but doesn't know how to talk about it. But when questioned he replied, some days he does and some days he doesn't. Is this really what grown men are supposed to be like. :roll:


I think your therapist may be on to something here. I don't think I know how to break up. I've dated ladies who just did a lot of weird stuff that was driving me away. I wouldn't break up but I was miserable because I couldn't get us to a negotiating table together... be that in therapy or at home. They wouldn't discuss the problems. I wanted to talk things through and make the relationship work.

In the end, I'd lose my cool. When I shouted "Shut up and Listen" the woman who had been driving me nuts had the excuse she needed to break up with me.
It is not always possible to make someone's discomfort go away.
Sometimes, the best thing we can do is resist the urge to fix it and instead just say, "You, too?"
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