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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To feel anger and hatred toward partner's Mother?Sorry long xx

23 replies

festered · 08/09/2013 14:42

I know I don't post here very often so I thank in advance for any responses.

Basically my partner suffers badly from depression, alcoholism, hoarding (badly!) and generally being upset and insecure.

He's a lovely man. Kind, caring, generous and adores me and treats me very well 99% of the time. He's very emotionally sensitive even though he's strong emotionally as well. I have my own issues, and I have always been able to rely on him to support me emotionally and to be there when I need him.

He is getting help for alcoholism, but he is a serious problem drinker when he is at his worst-however despite this, when he is drinking heavily he is still kind and caring (if a bit useless around the house and stuff) and never behaves angrily or any of the other things often associated with alcoholism.

When we had been together for about a year I rang his Mother begging for her help, as I couldn't cope and I asked that she come and visit and/or help somehow, try to make him feel better.I kind of wish I hadn't, she dismissed it. His house is atrocious I understand why she won't want to be in it, it's more or less derelict but that's another story altogether, I cope with living in it more or less and she is his MOTHER. Was he my child suffering so badly I would move the earth I am sure.

Also, his issues I feel are stemmed from childhood. He was sent to boarding school in another country from her because his Father got a good job and she went with him and left her children in boarding school. I don't agree with boarding schools at a young age but that's just my opinion. He suffered, was beaten, abused-even though he is strong and tells me it ws fine most of the time, I just feel she abandoned him. She never got him and his sisters christmas presents, she used to send them 'apology letters' from 'Santa Claus' because she couldn't be bothered with the whole thing.

I feel his hoarding is definitely a cause and effect symptom of childhood, he was never allowed his own things and whenever he visited his Mother in the country she lived in, she had thrown away most of his things due to moving house or decluttering. He has never had any love, and although he says he did his own thing as a kid and didn't mind not being around his parents-I struggle to believe it. He isn't that type-he is so loving and caring and sweet natured-he isn't a 'hard' sort of person.

Although I am not at home every night (I work nights and often stay over in other towns) he is very attached without being clingy, very affectionate and sweet and caring and loving in all ways, really feels loneliness and isolation like most emotionally sensitive people.
I harbour hate for her, for abandoning her kids and leaving them in another country at a horrid school. For not loving him as a child or adult, for being too CBA at Christmas. I struggle with his issues and maybe this is part of it-I blame her for MY situation and MY struggling, selfishly, and also unselfishly-for HIS pain and illnesses.

I see her once every couple of months when her and her partner come and take us out to dinner.

I am taking this out on him-last night we had been to a wedding so I had had a few wines and I told him how angry I was with her-and why, I remember one of the things I said was 'Okay so boarding school may have been okay but, you were a small child! What if you are hurt, upset, unsure, lonely?!Your MOTHER should have been there or cared or at least been contactable!! And he cried :(I have done this sort of anger thing with him before.
I know I am being unfair-I feel sometimes I want to rant at HER and make her feel bad like she made him feel bad.
This is unhealthy though and It's getting worse, I find myself getting so worked up about it :(
Am I being unreasonable to feel this way?And is there something wrong with me-should I try to be one of those sorts who thinks 'ah sod it there's a lot of folk with bad childhoods drop it and look to the future'?Etc....

OP posts:
WayHarshTai · 08/09/2013 14:44

You are in the throes of codependency.

It's really not healthy, and counselling would be helpful for you.

TheProsAndConsOfHitchhiking · 08/09/2013 14:49

I agree with WayHarshTai

Leverette · 08/09/2013 14:52

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Jewelledkaleidoscope · 08/09/2013 14:55

Yes, I agree with wayharshtai.

He needs counselling. And to take ownership of his own mental health.

GreetingsFrontBottom · 08/09/2013 14:57

I harbour hate for her, for abandoning her kids and leaving them in another country at a horrid school.

Wow. Don't you realise that many, many expat families send their DC to boarding schools? Why hate someone so much for this? I think - looking at this in isolation - YABVVU.

WhoNickedMyName · 08/09/2013 14:59

I remember one of the things I said was 'Okay so boarding school may have been okay but, you were a small child! What if you are hurt, upset, unsure, lonely?!Your MOTHER should have been there or cared or at least been contactable!! And he cried

Do you think by doing this you are helping him work through his issues?

SubliminalMassaging · 08/09/2013 15:00

Oh my goodness what a sad mess. I think you are probably right about the root causes of his extensive problems being abandonment and an emotionally unavailable mother, but you are making yourself depressed over things you can have no control over and are not responsible for. Just forget his mother. Your anger towards her will achieve nothing whatsoever. I assume she takes little notice of him now, so if he is practically estranged from her then there is little point in your banging on about it.

Help him move on. Focus on encouraging him to get some help - start with his GP for counselling and AA. And don't enable/facilitate him to get any worse just because you have so much sympathy for his sadness and insecurity. That won't help either of you. Set him goals and limits with the house, and help him sort it out slowly but surely, in parallel to getting the other help he needs. Don't be too accepting of it - by living in the mess with him you are validating and condoning the situation, which is not good at all.

festered · 08/09/2013 15:01

Thank you everyone.

Leverette sorry, I wasn't angry AT him, I'm rarely angry at him aside from little niggly things-and in all of life I know I am not an angry person-which is why this warranted me thinking and worrying that I need to change something. I rarely shout or get annoyed about anything, I am generally quite calm and if I do get upset about something, it's just that-I get UPSET, not angry and shouty and wanting to express it in a loud way. This is a new one on me :(

I just mean, I got angry generally last night, about her, and expressed it to him which I know cannot be nice for someone hearing things like that about their Mother. I am helping and supporting him, and am happy to do it although I agree I may need some support. I just feel this anger toward her and I don't know what to do about it.

OP posts:
CaptainSweatPants · 08/09/2013 15:02

Do you really see a future for you both? How much does he drink?

festered · 08/09/2013 15:05

Thanks GFB-I have had that thought process myself.I hate her for it because she didn't have to do it-she chose her husband (who is a violent nasty person) over her kids and left the country with him-she could have stayed where she was.
The kids didn't know they were being sent there until a week before-and given his personality, that's what I struggle with. He struggles to talk about the time.
whonickedmyname-this is why I posted, I know it's unhealthy and not the right way to deal with things.

SM-thank you I think that's one of the most helpful responses. I need to give myself practical assistance and direct it toward him, definitely and if I get help myself so I can deal with my anger at the cause, then I will be a much better help to him. Thank you xx

OP posts:
festered · 08/09/2013 15:07

Captain, yes I do see a future for us, I cant tell you exactly how much he drinks as he has fits and starts and is currently on a program to cut it right down. He is getting help and was seeing a counsellor until recently-I want him to go back to that but he says it didn't seem to help a lot.

OP posts:
DioneTheDiabolist · 08/09/2013 15:09

Festered you are in an unhealthy co-dependent relationship with this man. Please contact Al Anon and get some help. You are not helping your partner and you are definitely being damaged yourself.Sad

festered · 08/09/2013 15:11

I know I have co-dependency issues, I have had them in previous relationships now come to think of it. I wonder if Al-Anon will help me with those? Worth a try I think, is there a direct correlation with that and alcoholic partners?That's a silly question isn't it :)

OP posts:
Morgause · 08/09/2013 15:11

He chooses to drink. No one's fault but his. You need to accept that.

I speak as someone with an alcoholic in the family.

queenofdrama · 08/09/2013 15:13

Yanbu. Ultimately your dp is responsible for choosing his own path in life but I can see where you're coming from. My mil is cold & heartless & has irreparably damaged my dh & his db with her inadequate parenting. I won't go into more detail re mil but I agree, your dp's current 'issues' are partly a result of his mother's inadequacy as a parent.

festered · 08/09/2013 15:14

Morgause yes you're right. It's really sad. He hates himself for the drinking -I suppose a lot of alcoholics do. It's hard to understand, for me , I mean I like a drink myself but could never imagine it taking over my life :(
I am going to talk to him. I've apologised for upsetting him and thought expressing it on here would help, and it has so thank you everyone. I am going to be better from now on. I've had a bit of counselling training myself and am glad he is open and honest with me about everything and I shouldn't behave like I did last night-it doesn't help at all.

OP posts:
festered · 08/09/2013 15:15

QOD thank you-I know I am not the only woman to despise their partner's Mother, I guess you know how I feel, It's not a nice situation to be in at all :(

OP posts:
festered · 08/09/2013 15:16

I have to leave the thread for a bit (will be back) but it has helped immensely talking about it and hearing what you all have to say, thank you-I will try to be a more active poster for definite :)

OP posts:
HopeClearwater · 08/09/2013 15:29

Has he any siblings? What are they like?

festered · 08/09/2013 17:57

Hopeclearwater yes. I have never met them so do not like to judge, however I know they struggle too.

OP posts:
NeedaWee · 08/09/2013 18:04

you went out for "a few wines" with an alcoholic who is struggling to get help

wow

festered · 08/09/2013 19:29

We were at a wedding, Needawee. I couldn't really tell him he couldn't come, they were his friends as well as mine.

OP posts:
festered · 09/09/2013 20:37

Anyway I am back-just want to say thank you for all the responses-from the I am very very unreasonable to I am not at all to those who have not answered but just given advice.

I've concluded from everything said that I am not unreasonable to FEEL this way, but I am unreasonable to BEHAVE the way I do because I feel it.

I have only done it three times, but a couple recently which is why I was worried about it.

I guess I maybe went into too much detail!

Also I do want to clarify, for the sake of everyone involved that the issues he has with drink, are in fits and starts, and until a few weeks ago, he had had a period of being really good, he is currently getting help, we talk a lot and are very close, we have a good relationship most of the time, a very good one I think-I don't want people to think that he's a proper mess all the time and we argue a lot and never have fun and hate one another... It isn't like that, as I said earlier, if I was the sort that was often angry and we argued very often, I wouldn't have thought this was enough of a large issue to put on here-I was kind of scared because I am not used to myself behaving like this.

I am going to arrange some help for myself as well as encouraging him-just getting my feelings down on here has helped.

And I am going to make a voodoo doll of her (I'm only joking) :)

Thank you again everyone xx

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