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My girlfriend is pushing me away - how to help her

31 replies

MrB1996 · 25/06/2024 08:08

My girlfriend is pushing me away - I love her to bits but she’s pushing me away.
Shes struggling a lot with her mental health and awaiting a whole load of assessment. I’ve never seen her quite this bad.
The issue is that she simply doesn’t trust me. I am in this relationship for the long haul, but she just doesn’t believe how that’s possible. She has an awful view on herself and is so so mean to herself, so projects her views on herself on me. Her issues have caused a few arguments; she’s also had a few arguments. Therefore she’s convinced that there’s no way I look at her ‘the same way I did’ when we met, because of everything I’ve seen and been through with her. She genuinely cannot fathom it.

That causes the biggest issue for me - being compared. She constantly compares me to “how I used to be”. This is something I honestly can’t stand, and she’ll compare two things that are completely different situations. She expects the same reaction from me every time.

The other thing that is pushing me away is the fact she’s always telling me I’m better off without her. Literally every day she’s saying I should dump her, or I should “find someone who does XYZ”. It’s almost as if she wants it to happen.
I told her that this is going to push me away eventually, and that the more she tells me this, the more I’m going to start believing it.
She practically had a meltdown here and is now convinced I’ll dump her.

Yesterday we argued for pretty much the whole day. I play sport and sometimes play all weekend. She told me that she felt hurt that I didn’t want to spend Sundays with her. I reminded her that this very Sunday, I didn’t play sport and chose to spend the day with her and her family.
She just kept repeating herself anyway.
I got frustrated because she was just not understanding and I had to keep repeating myself. She then got upset and said her brain doesn’t work properly and she can’t take anything in and she “doesn’t understand”.

She then went to work and it continued over text. I ended up so angry because she just kept repeating herself, telling me I don’t care about her, how I’m fed up of her. I said she’s just choosing not to trust me at this point. I said I didn’t want picking up from work and that I’d make my own way home. She ended up crying and begging and so she got her way and took me home even though I just wanted to make my own way home.
I told her how this comes across manipulative and now she’s convinced I think she’s manipulative in general.
Anyway, we chatted and I comforted her. But later in the night it starts again. We’re chatting until 2am and she’s just saying the same thing over and over again, saying how she doesn’t deserve me and “how can I possibly love her”. I tell her multiple times a day that I do, but she’s only hung up on the negative stuff. How she’s clearly “vile and manipulative”.
I said I just wanted to go to sleep but we ended up staying up late and she cried again.

This morning she’s beating herself up completely. She won’t stop apologising for being manipulative and horrible.
I am someone who wakes up and it’s a new day. I love her so much and I know that I stick around for the positives. She’s an amazing girl and she’s really struggling. I wake up and for me, it’s over, and I want to go back to loving her and having fun.
But she’s still dwelling.

How can I support her?

OP posts:
Jujubeez · 25/06/2024 09:05

She's not in the right space for a relationship - let her go and walk away. You can let the people who support her know so they can be there for her.

Kindly, this is her problem to fix not yours.

MrB1996 · 25/06/2024 09:04

We do live together and honestly she makes me very very happy, I know she’s trying hard to get better. It’s only a recent thing she’s been a dream up until recently

OP posts:
iratepirate · 25/06/2024 09:03

This is such a difficult situation but you can’t help her if she’s not also trying to help herself. Nobody can “fix” someone else, however much we may wish to.
The hardest thing to do here may also be the best thing for both of you: give her some space.

AlliumLake · 25/06/2024 08:58

Do you live together? I would take a step away from the relationship until she manages her MH better. It isn’t doing either of you any good at the moment.

BrokenWing · 25/06/2024 08:57

Life is too short and you only get one go at it. Too short to be someone’s emotional punchbag.

C1N1C · 25/06/2024 08:46

So... I'm a guy... and I married this girl. The absolute best piece of advice I can give you is to run, and run far and fast, in fact, I'd almost plead with you to.

It does not change. We all start off strong. We all think she's really nice "when she's not acting this way", we all cling on to those times and try to see her as she is when she's not like this... "oh, these times will pass... when she's nice, she's amazing", etc... but it wears you down.

All your quotes, I could have written. Depression, manipulation, a constant need for reassurance... then using lines like "I know I'm hard work" as if that's meant to be some comfort to you like they acknowledge how difficult they are, like the (supposed?) Alcoholics Anonymous mentra "the first step is acknowledging you have a problem". Trust me, this will only get much worse, because the more she does this, she more ammunition she has on herself, that will make her depressed, will make her question why you're with her, that will force you to prove your love to her ten times more than the last to prove it "isn't affecting you"...

I live this life, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. My best friend actually told me, that she may be acknowledging her 'disability', but that doesn't change the fact you're still her punching bag. I wake up every day with a banging in my chest because I am physically afraid of saying anything as it will often be taken out of context, will be used against me, etc... and then they'll act perfectly normal and loving ten minutes later because it's like a switch! They might even apologise, but this sort of thing truly is a death by a thousand cuts.

"She constantly compares me to “how I used to be”."
Literally every day she’s saying I should dump her"
"She’s convinced I think she’s manipulative in general."
“how can I possibly love her”
"She won’t stop apologising for being manipulative and horrible."

"I know that I stick around for the positives." <--- This is the key quote. Eventually the scales will tip, but you'll have built a life together. You'll fear waking up, or like me, you'll even fear coming home because your freedom is peaceful, or worse, you'll fear coming home because will their depression have pushed them over the edge.

I know it's not what you want to hear. Just ask yourself whether there is a pit in your stomach when you wake up next to her. Is your life built on the hope of what she 'was' before this developed.